Hello! I am a freshman in college, and recently finished the book. I'm about 70% done with my final essay on it, I'd really appreciate any feedback:
In today's world, it is seemingly impossible to escape from the modern-day overseer, the smartphone. Carried by nearly all, it is a device that tracks our movements, listens to commands, monitors our habits, and silently collects more information on us than any human could. Not only does the phone itself collect data, but the user can use it to record, capture, or observe any moment in our world. In today's world, it is more important than ever to ensure that every movement, word, and action is carefully considered and leaves no room for misinterpretation. These are the exact fears explored throughout 1984 by George Orwell. George Orwell himself was not a paranoid pessimist; he was a prophet, and his warnings about the rise of surveillance and erosion of privacy show truer than ever in our modern day. 

The immediate similarity between today's world and the society in 1984 is the seemingly unescapable surveillance all around us. In the book, the citizens of Oceania live under constant watch from telescreens, cameras, and microphones. The entire system is designed to make privacy impossible. While in our present society we are not under constant watch, we are surrounded by compact recording devices that can be used to record or monitor at any time. The main downfall in our modern day is just how openly accepted it is to record without consent, and how easy it is to be shared globally. This makes the line between our society and theirs much closer than it would appear at first glance. 

A clear example of this similarity is how quickly anything can be recorded and shared online. It only takes a few seconds for a person to pull out their phone, record a moment in time, and that video to be shared. Within minutes, that posted video or picture can be saved or shared, leading to the moment only being seen by more. And within those few views, that moment can already be forged in steel for the rest of history. Even everyday actions, such as walking through a store, eating at a restaurant, or making a simple mistake, can be filmed without the person ever knowing. This kind of sudden exposure forces people to think through each action and be more cautious than they should have to be in daily life. In many ways, the smartphone is the modern-day equivalent of the telescreen in Orwell’s world. Not by making us watch propaganda, but because it can watch and record at any moment. While this isn’t exactly the same as the government’s surveillance in 1984, the effect feels just as uncomfortable, because nobody truly knows when they’re being watched. 

Another major and clear connection between the world within 1984 and our world today is the idea of the Memory Hole, which is where records are rewritten or destroyed to alter the people's view of history. In the book, any piece of information that no longer fits a specific Party’s version of the truth is thrown into the Memory Hole and deleted forever. Deleting or highlighting one thing over another in news articles or social media posts in today's world has the same effect. This effect can be seen by the company Meta, changing the algorithm to prevent the spread of Palestine content on Facebook and Instagram. Human Rights Watch analyzed over a thousand cases where Meta removed or suppressed posts from users across over sixty countries, peaceful or not, documenting real events (“Meta’s Broken Promises”). The platform was deliberately silencing users who spoke out in support of Palestine or tried to share information about what was happening. Thousands of posts were silently removed, hidden, or restricted without warning, even though they didn’t go against the posting guidelines. When important information can seemingly disappear this easily, it creates the same feeling of uncertainty that Orwell warns about in 1984. This algorithm mirrors the exact effect that happens within the book with the memory hole being used to control public perception.