Big Brother?

In George Orwell's novel 1984 "Big Brother" is everywhere. It controls how the characters act, think and feel. One wrong move and you could be vaporized from existence. What is Big Brother to Orwell's character's? The physical establishment is the ministries, that control all aspects of the citizen's lives, including being able to erase and/or rewrite history.

 This is probably going to sound weird, but Big Brother in our society today, I believe is very similar to Big Brother in 1984, the government. I don't want to sound crazy or paranoid, but with the amount of technology that is in our world today, do you ever wonder if someone may be checking up on you? Big Brother could also be as simple as your boss at work watching the video feeds while you're working to make sure you're doing your job right. Privacy I think exist to an extent, in your own home you can do whatever you want, but when you step outside your front door, privacy goes out the window. I think that some people would give up basic freedoms to feel safe, myself NOT included. Freedoms have be fought for and won over the years, I feel safe in my environment and would never give up the freedoms that I have. 

Carpe Diem

"O Captain, my Captian." A quote from a Walt Whitman poem that is referenced numerous times in the Robin Williams movie The Dead Poets Society, which we were shown a clip of on Tuesday in class. The theme of the entire movie is similar to that of the readings of Emerson and Thoreau. Live live to the fullest, "Carpe Diem," for you never know when you'll lose the opportunity to do so forever. 
Could I live shut off from society for a year in a cabin in the woods? This is a tough question for me, I am a very social person so I don't know if I could do it purely on that idea. To give up technology for that length of time I think would be very easy, there are so many different options out their besides a computer or a smart phone are not the only forms of entertainment in our world today. People have seem to forgotten about things like reading a book for fun, or just going outside and enjoying a nice day, which can easily substitute for going on Facebook, or playing Angry Birds. 
In the novel Feed, a world is presented to the reader of a world consumed by technology. The characters have a "feed" implanted into their brains so that whoever is in power can download into these peoples brains what they thing is important. The characters are so reliant on technology that without it they are basically dumb. Would these character be able to go to the woods and live deliberately? I don't think so.