Regarding Ray Bradbury's critique of screens: recall that television broadcasting started in 1946. The early 50's (when Bradbury was writing Fahrenheit 451) saw an explosive growth in the number of people buying TVs. Public programming, corporate sponsorships, and jingle advertising sought to reach the widest audience possible. The dumbing down of literature was Madison Avenue's solution.

Also recall that the Red Scare of McCarthyism was rampant at that same time. Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953. In 1957 Time Magazine published a short piece entitled "Television, Opiate of the People".

Bradbury's was prescience was spot on.