Three major commonalities found in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 between our society and the depicted society are how much television people watch, the censorship through government, and through advanced technology overtaking manual labors and making it easier for us to relax and do less work. These are all becoming more and more relevant as the years pass and as technology evolves. Each year the human race is becoming more and more sophisticated and with this their research habits are coming more complete and effective. This may someday lead to similar things happening in the near or far future if something isn't done about it now.
One example of the peoples need for television in the book is when Mildred and Montag are in the hallway reading through books after pulling the from the ventilation shaft. "The parlor was dead and Mildred kept peering in at it with a blank expression as Montag paced the floor and came back and squatted down and read a page as many as ten times, aloud."(p. 71) This goes to show that since Mildred has been watching television for so long she has become attached and obsessed with it. This would be similar to what some typical Americans are like. Some won't even leave their couch to enjoy a walk in the park, or even to do stuff with friends. This goes to show that some people can't control their own lives but instead will let the televisions do it for them. This can have very bad effects on the average person and cause altered visions of reality, obesity, and it can even lower your intelligence level depending on how long you watch and how obsessed you are with.
Another thing wrong with today's society is the censorship in government. In this quote Beatty is talking to Montag about books and what they contain. "Books leveled down to a paste pudding norm."(p. 54) This shows that in Ray Bradbury's depicted society everything that the public sees is the bare minimum information.