Dystopian books are immensely popular. They predict and warn us about dangers and horrible futures we never truly pay attention to — one of them being Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The book warns readers about the rise of technology, especially television, since it was written during a time when TV was new, popular, and becoming the main source of entertainment and news. While Ray Bradbury’s prediction of television completely taking over may not be entirely accurate, it’s undeniable that there are many similarities between the fictional dystopian world he created and the world we live in today. From earbuds to government monitoring and censorship, many of those similarities are frightening.
One of the most prominent similarities in the book is technology. Although TV’s popularity has decreased over the years, Bradbury accurately predicted one famous piece of technology — earbuds. While not a major invention, no one can deny how common they are. From AirPods to Beats, people of all ages use earbuds to listen to music, audiobooks, and shows on the go. This is very similar to the book, where Guy’s wife, Mildred, is constantly wearing her earbuds — in bed, while making breakfast, or while watching TV. She represents the people of today: earbuds in, distracted, and emotionally numb.
Another similarity is how both societies use technology. While we have phones and the people in Fahrenheit 451 have giant TVs, both are used in similar ways. We depend on our devices for entertainment and information, just like they do. For example, in the book, Mildred and her friends are shown watching short, meaningless programs and talking about five-minute content on their TVs — not so different from the short-form videos we scroll through daily. Both worlds are obsessed with screens and constant stimulation. While we may not gather just to stare at our phones like Mildred and her friends do with their TVs, we still spend hours on our devices, and the similarities are hard to ignore.
Another major topic in the book is censorship — and that’s something we still deal with today. In the story, even owning a book is enough to have your house burned down by the firemen. While we are lucky not to live in that kind of extreme censorship, book banning is still a serious issue. Books that some people find “inappropriate” are being taken off shelves, especially for younger readers. Often, these books aren’t truly harmful — they’re simply controversial or make people uncomfortable.
Government censorship is another shared concern. In Fahrenheit 451, people are kept misinformed about what’s happening in their world, with the government controlling what they see and hear. While we haven’t reached that level, censorship still exists in many countries. For example, Nepal recently tried to ban social media platforms after adding new rules, which led to protests and eventually the appointment of a new prime minister. In places like North Korea, the government still heavily controls the internet to shape the narrative of what citizens believe. Censorship might seem like a small issue, but it’s still very real in today’s world.
Another connection between the book and reality is government monitoring. While it isn’t revealed early in the story, it’s later shown that the government keeps track of people who seem “different.” Beatty tells Guy that Clarisse and her family were being watched and that her uncle had been arrested. Although it’s not exactly the same today, there are still ways governments and companies monitor people — from online tracking to data collection. Even policies in countries like the UK require ID verification to browse certain websites. To say this isn’t a problem would be a misunderstanding.
One of the biggest similarities between Bradbury’s world and ours is the decline of independent thinking. At first, this may sound like a stretch, but after reading the book, the connection becomes clear. Characters like Mildred and her friends are consumed by their TVs and never think deeply about anything. Mildred ignores her husband when he questions society and even reports him for reading books. She doesn’t seem to care about much beyond her shows. She’s selfish and ignorant — but also a product of her environment. This is similar to how many people today spend hours scrolling on social media or relying on AI to think for them. Attention spans are shorter, literacy rates are falling, and misinformation spreads quickly. Just like in the book, fewer people are truly thinking for themselves.
Another similarity is persecution. In Fahrenheit 451, people are punished for being different — for reading, walking too slowly, or simply questioning the world they live in. Clarisse’s uncle is jailed for being a pedestrian, and when a woman refuses to leave her house full of books, she’s burned alive with it. The firemen don’t care if someone is innocent; they just follow orders. While we haven’t reached that level, there are still issues in our world — like citizens being detained unfairly or institutions being punished for speaking out.
While these parallels are eerie and feel like predictions of the future, it’s also important to be optimistic and recognize how far we’ve come. Bradbury wrote this book as a warning — not to scare us, but to remind us of what could happen if we stop thinking critically and allow censorship to take over. Inspired by events like Nazi book burnings and Senator Joseph McCarthy’s communist witch hunts, Fahrenheit 451 remains one of the most powerful pieces of literature from the 20th century. Though it’s fiction, it’s also a reminder to stay alert and aware — because the line between our world and Bradbury’s isn’t as distant as we might think.