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Cellphones went from cool form factor mini computers to mandatory personal identification and spying devices (lemy.lol)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Anyone else remember then being the cool new thing instead of a mandatory one?

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[–] 10 points 5 months ago (4 children)

This is exactly what Orwell feared TVs would become when he envisioned telescreens. Took a little longer for it to come to fruition. What's fascinating about the novel that people over look is that the older generation in 1984 tend not to own them because they're resistant to new technology just like today. So they aren't really mandatory. Like smartphones.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (2 children)

    I think the Party members were required to have telescreens, but the proles were not because they were seen as unimportant and incapable of organizing a rebellion.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    But that's the thing, from my understanding, you don't have to be a party member. You can become a prole. At one point, Winston and Julia discuss becoming proles but dismiss that and I assume that's a satire of how the middle class refuse to give up their status and thus accept oppressive technology.

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