In the novel and its adaptations, telescreens are used by the ruling Party in Oceania to keep its subjects under constant surveillance, thus eliminating the chance of secret conspiracies against Oceania.
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All members of the Inner Party (upper-class) and Outer Party (middle-class) have telescreens in their homes, but the proles (lower-class) are not typically monitored as they are unimportant to the Party.
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Telescreens, in addition to being surveillance devices, are also the equivalent of televisions (hence the name), broadcasting propaganda about Oceania's military victories, economic production figures, spirited renditions of the national anthem to heighten patriotism, and Two Minutes Hate, which is a two-minute film of Emmanuel Goldstein's wishes for freedom of speech and press, which the citizens have been trained to disagree with through doublethink.
In much the same manner as an imaginary friend acts, 'The Big Guy' never responds until he finally becomes fed up with Citizen 43275-B and declares that he does not like being called 'The Big Guy' - but this intervention serves only to worsen Big Brother's predicament, as 43275-B enthusiastically hugs the telescreen and goes on to "amuse" him through a variety of ways: sock puppets, Boggle, hide and seek, one-sided pillow fights, and knock-knock jokes.
One sketch on That Mitchell and Webb Sound involved the hapless residents of room 102, the telescreen repair centre, who could not ignore the things happening in the next room.