Fahrenheit 451 Extra Credit Assignment
This assignment will ask you to investigate your dependency on technological devices. Now that you’ve read Fahrenheit 451 you can see the potential for this type of addiction. Bradbury argued that technological overload was one of the elements that was helping to destroy American culture in the mid twentieth century. Your task will be to choose one of your technological addictions that you recognize as problematic. For example, if you text with your friends more often than having face-to-face conversations, you might want to consider giving up your cell phone for the week. If you have over 500 friends on Facebook, most of whom you’ve never spoken to in person, you could have your parents change your Facebook password for the week. The choice for this assignment is individual and it should be done with introspection. Once you’ve decided on the device, you and your parents will sign this contract and you will submit the contract and the device to me on Monday, April 29. I will provide you with a Ziplock bag in order to properly label any items that you submit. I will keep all submitted items in a locked cabinet in a secure location for the week. The assignment will last for seven days, ending on Monday, May 6. Your parent’s signature and their contact information at the bottom of this page will verify that you have their permission to undertake this assignment for the full week. I may contact them if I have any questions about your chosen device. Please make sure they include a phone number or an email where they can be reached. At the end of the assignment you will reflect upon your experience in a written essay answering the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Why did you choose to give up this device? What were your expectations about the assignment? What did you learn about yourself as you were forced to go without this device? Would you recommend this process to anyone? Why or why not?
Please contact me if you have any questions about this assignment. Thanks, Jason Dinkler
[email protected]
----------------------Your Signature
-------------------------------------------------Parent’s signature and contact information
