Doesn't it seem so REAL to you?

How often do you find yourself relating more and more to the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson? When the novel describes the main characters' dependency on their 'feeds' , I can easily relate that to my own obsession with my phone. At times I catch myself seeking validation from others through social media, and as I delved deeper into this novel there was a similar theme of self identification through 'the feed' as well. Anderson exposes this theme throughout most of the book and here's an example, "Once, she went to the bathroom, casual-like, and came back with her hair parted a different place. Calista and Quendy watched her. Later, without saying anything, they went and did theirs different like that, too" (44). From this part of the book, we can see an unhealthy habit of trying to keep up with the latest trends. God forbid you are not updated on the latest fashion statement, it could be life threatening..  

Lets talk about the constant flow of information through the feed. I have to admit, this novel took the idea of pop ups, advertisements, online shopping, and the overall use of the internet to the next level.. Or maybe it didn't.. As I surf through my phone, I realize how exposed I am to a million and one different forms of content. Based on the likes and interests in my social media pages, subscriptions on websites, and even where I am located, the internet conjures up a pretty well thought out plethora of information for me. Just like in the novel, I have read pop ups similar to this one, 

"… It's dance. It's dance, dance, dance. That's fun. Fun's fun, and fun's what you can have. There's nothing to stop you from fun. Do you see the bodies? Can you smell the beat? Then you'll come and roar with us. Come and throw your boots at superstars. Come thrash in the cool until your head opens up, and you see the veins of the people you love bright as branches against the sky, and burnt in your brain will be the fun, all of the fun, and the lights, and the Doppler fade of screaming you heard at the Rumble Spot. The Rumble Spot. 

The Rumble Spot: an ocean of chaos in the Sea of Tranquility" (Feed 22). 

Now, isn't it a little strange how connected we are to the world wide web? Like if you step back and think critically on our generation's dependency on media information, isn't it a little eerie, or is it just me? From personal observation of my own experience with smart phones, I can most-likely describe your experience with your phone as well. It may go a little like, spending most of the day with your phone close to you, sleeping and waking up next to it, using it when you are waiting for someone or something, and consistently checking it to see if you received any new notifications within the last couple hours. If you could relate to any of those things, than you know how dependent our generation is on social media. With that much exposure to a mass amount of content, it is likely that you could be influenced by certain things. Here is an excerpt from the novel, where the main character Titus describes the Feed's influence on him,  

"But the braggest thing about the feed, the thing that made it really big, is that it knows everything you want and hope for, sometimes before you even know what those things are. It can tell you how to get them, and help you make buying decisions that are hard. Everything we think and feel is taken in by the corporations, mainly by data ones like Feedlink and OnFeed and American Feedware, and they make a special profile, one that's keyed just to you, and then they give it to their branch companies, or other companies buy them, and they can get to know what it is we need, so all you have to do is want something and there's a chance it will be yours" (10). 

Doesn't this scare you even a little bit? Well it scares me, and it isn't so different from what we are living today. This book depicts an exaggerated but very honest example of what our generation is victim of. So far.. I believe there is more of a non-fiction feeling to this book. 

Work Cited: 

1.)Anderson, Matthew Tobin, Feed. Massachusetts. Cambridge Press, 2002. 

-Christopher Herrera