What aspects of modern life do you think Aldous Huxley dislikes?

[Alex]

This is a thought question on my Brave New World Packet. I understand the story clearly, but when it comes to this question...my mind goes blank. Someone please help!!!!

[Kim]

Well, take a look at modern society and how similar it is to the society in Brave New World. In the book, being by ones self is considered strange and anti-social. Today, what with cell phones, social networks, and email, many people never have a moment that does not involve another person. A person who does not always bring his cell phone with him or who does not have a social networking account, a person who actually takes the time to be by himself, is considered abnormal.
There is also the matter of the drug in the book (if I remember correctly, it was called soma). People use soma to suppress unpleasant emotions and memories. In today's world, there are so many people who will spend their time after work drinking instead of dealing with their more turbulent thoughts. Same goes for the abundance of potheads in the world today, they would rather get high than deal with their emotions. Even things like television serve to distract us from ourselves.
Finally, there are the messages that are placed in children's' minds from a young age. The messages that make them love sport, hate nature, and want to buy new clothes rather than mend old ones. In a way, modern advertising works in a very similar way. Maybe not for products that they will eventually grow out of, like toys, but for products that children could continue to use into adulthood. For example, a kid sees an ad for McDonald's on television that offers him a toy with his meal. The kid wants that toy and pesters his parents to take him to McDonald's. This continues until he is too old to care about toys and kid's meals. By this time, though, he has developed a taste for the food and continues to eat there. Even into adulthood, he is drawn to McDonald's by the promise of familiar food and by nostalgic memories of his good times there as a kid. Eventually, he has children and he starts taking them to the restaurant. And so, the cycle continues.
When you think about it, it is actually quite frightening how similar our society today has become to that in Brave New World. I think that Huxley would be horrified to see us on the path to a future that resembles that world.