Computers have also made it easier for people to be spied on. So much of our personal information is available online. It can be difficult to make sure it stays out of the hands of hackers and identity thieves. People worry that the government keeps files on individuals, tracking their actions, using things like credit card data and Internet activity. Government agencies responsible for homeland security are able to survey personal information. If they feel that you may be a threat, they can bring you in for questioning.

Still, not everyone feels that we are in dangerous territory. After all, we are still able to express our opinions about the government without fear of retribution. We are allowed to read and post our thoughts about dystopian fiction such as The Giver, Feed, and The Hunger Games, which you explored in this unit. This is proof that we are not living in a totalitarian state—at least, not yet.

What aspects of our society match dystopian fiction?

In 1949, author George Orwell predicted that England and other western nations would become a police state. There would be surveillance cameras everywhere—including people’s private homes—monitoring everyone’s actions, thoughts, and feelings. Orwell’s concerns about the future inspired his book 1984. He depicted a society in which if anyone expressed any negativity toward the government or authorities, there would be severe consequences. The government’s main slogan was, “Big Brother is Watching You.”

Now we’re well past the year 1984, and Orwell’s dystopian prediction hasn’t quite come true—or has it? The reality TV show “Big Brother,” which began airing in 2000, features contestants who live in a house full of cameras where their every move is recorded. That is a stunt for TV, but in our own lives, surveillance cameras are ubiquitous. At traffic lights, convenience stores, banks, and even libraries, we’re caught on camera multiple times each day.

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