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Don’t you just wish you had coke now?………..Well, here we are in the book Feed, we are still in America, its around 100+ years later, yet we are still bombarded by useless, annoying pieces of advertisements. You would think that would become meg old and shit, but instead it has become a part of our and their (the Feed characters’) everyday lives. 

 

We are like Barbie TM dolls. As a child, you control your Barbie TM. You make her do what you want; the way she is dressed is based on what you think is nice, the “imaginary meals” she intakes, is based on what you want her to eat, your version of delicious. Once upon a time, we were the ones who controlled society, but now society controls us. We are their helpless Barbie TM dolls and we fail to realize it. 

  

     

They feed us the food that they find to be more economically beneficial for their own pockets, and then enforce their products in our minds because they make sure that we are constantly surrounded by their  ads every minute of every day.  

   

It is seriously unbelievable how accurate the book portrays the topic of consumerism. First off, in the book Feed, M.T. Anderson uses a clever technique, that honestly I have never seen in a book before. He interrupts the story with feedcasts, banners, or ads (as you may know them). Why does he do this? I mean it's bad enough for us at it is. For example,

 we can’t watch a youtube video without a commercial coming up at the very beginning, advertising various different things, but because you are meg  annoyed, you wait patiently as you countdown the seconds for the “skip ad” button to become available. Worst case scenario, is if you get stuck with those ads that last a whole 15 seconds without the chance to skip. We are forced to allow ourselves to be interrupted by advertisements all the time; when we watch a movie, when we go on youtube, when we go on basically any website, the billboard signs as we drive, ads on the radio, and now we are being interrupted in a book. Sooner or later we will have to watch a commercial before being allowed to use the bathroom. Because we are looking at the world through Titus’s eyes, we need to experience the feed in a similar way. Therefore, Anderson interrupts us with the banners to provide a glimpse of how the characters are interrupted, as well.

"It was a chance to rip off the corporations, which we all thought was a funny idea." (Anderson 158)

Here we see that Titus and his friends think they can outsmart the large corporations, but what ends up really happening? Coca-Cola is throwing a huge "give-a-way": If you talk about the great taste of Coca-Cola to your friends like a thousand times, you get a free six-pack of it; so they "decided to take them for some meg ride by all getting together and being like, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke for about three hours so we'd get a year's supply." (Anderson 158) They think that  they are playing the system, but in reality they are just being played by the system. Later we find that Link asks Marty if he actually has Coca-Cola and Marty replies by saying, "No. But, fuck, aren't you getting like meg thirsty? With all of this talking about the great taste of Coke?" (Anderson 158) In the end, they all go out and buy Coke. Are you fucking kidding me???

   

"And the feed spoke to me real quiet about new trends, about pants that should be shorter or longer, and bands I should know, and games with new levels and stalactites and fields of diamonds, and friends of many colors were all drinking Coke, and beer was washing through mountain passes, and the stars of the Oh? Wow! Thing! had got lesions, so lesions were hip now, real hip, and mine looked like a million dollars. The sun was rising over foreign countries, and underwear was cheap, and there were new techniques to reconfigure pecs, abs, and nipples, and the President of the United States was certain of the future, and at Weatherbee & Crotch there was a sale banner and nice rugby shirts and there were pictures of freckled prep-school boys and girls in chinos paying on the beach and dry humping in the eel grass, and as I fell asleep, the feed murmured to me again and again: All shall be well . . . and all shall be well . . . and all manner of things shall be well!" (Anderson 148)

Ads in your brain? Honestly, I would die. How do they not fall over or run into things? Do they not get annoyed? Anyway, as I read this quote, it showed many  of the products that the Feed was telling Titus to buy, but I mostly paid note to the last part, “All shall be well . . . and all shall be well . . . and all manner of things shall be well!” I know I have heard this before, so I typed it up on google and searched for it. I found that the quote the Feed murmured was actually from Julian of Norwich who was a female religious writer from the Middle Ages. When we look at context of the original quote, we find that she was explaining how although we are all great sinners, that God loves us anyway, and in the end everything will be well. So the way the Feed interprets it is actually replacing the spiritual significance with consumerism. Saying something like: God isn’t going to make everything well, but buying stuff will make everything well. 

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“There's nothing but the feed telling you, This is the music you heard. This is the music you missed. This is what is new. Listen.” (Anderson 5)

“Quendy and Loga went off to the bathroom because hairstyles had changed.” (Anderson 20)

“It was like I kept buying these things to be cool, but cool was always flying just ahead of me, and I could never exactly catch up to it.

I felt like I'd been running toward it for a long time.” (Anderson 279)

Everything they do depends on what the feed thinks is popular. Their happiness is based on the feed. The latest trends are being based on the serious conditions going on with the world as a way to keep the population distracted. Everyone is so busy and distracted looking for the latest hairstyle or fashion trend and trying to keep up with the “cool” stuff, that they fail to realize what is, in reality, going on with the world. Take for example the lesions. They are shown to them as a trend, when in fact, there bodies are suffering because of the lack of attention to the environment. It is serious, yet the corps have made it into something that people want to get done to their bodies willingly. THAT’S MEG GROSS! 

"An eerie futuristic novel.... kids' brains are wired into the television and other entertainment media from birth, making them totally driven by consumer marketing. This is fiction?" - Boston Globe (Anderson Critic's Comment Page) 

      

“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.” (Anderson 48)

Titus is saying that it is  wonderfully amazing that the feed is able to create a kind of consumer profile that tells you what you want before you even know what you want. He says that everything they think and feel is basically recorded by the Corps. Isn’t that scary? They know everything about you. They hand out your information to other companies and you are basically a means of income and a piece of property. I thought slavery was abolished, yet the companies are chaining these teenagers, trading them like property, and basically forcing them to obey. 

"We Americans, are interested only in the consumption of our products." (Anderson 290)

To conclude, I am left speechless. Our entire consumer based society just makes me sick, because it is so fucked up, yet I am a willing participant of it. I allow myself to be like Titus. I might as well have the feed in my head, because I am a victim of this as well. The media and these companies are constructing our personality and its sad that we are letting them. As M.T Anderson explains it, “Already my dreams of who I wanted to be, my understanding of who I had been in the past, my hopes for who I’d become in the future— these things had already been influences and perhaps even constructed…” Anderson got it right when he said this, without realizing it, we are allowing the media to portray for us an image of what music is cool, how to dress, what to be when you grow up, the definition of beauty, etc. Everything is being constructed for us and we need to stop it. Perhaps, we have gone so deep that we cannot resist, because sooner or later the major corporations will catch up to us, but is it worth trying? Violet suffered sadly because she tried. She was unable to move, unable to talk, unable to give a perspective or voice, and she was refused help because she wasn’t a reliable investment. Can that happen to us if we try to resist? Will our voices not be heard in society anymore? Will we not be offered help or support? What will happen? What should we do? Honestly, I don’t know, but it is definitely something we should think about. 

-Leslie T. 

  (Prompt 4)

WORKS CITED:

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002. Print.

Finding a Metaphor in Feed

During my time reading Feed written by MT Anderson I could see many differences in different passages of the read. One that really caught my eye and made me  want to investigate more about were the lesions and lenticels. There are several parts in the novel where these are discussed. After seeing this I could connect into an analogy. For those that do not know what a Metaphor is it is: a brief or extended comparison of something with something else. The Metaphor that I can make a connection too and see in our world today is plastic surgery. 

In the novel, Quendy, Castlia, and Loga are always trying to stay up to date with the latest fashions and trends. The feed broadcasts all this information to them; so they can be hip. One trend that became larger in the book were lesions. Lesions are cuts in the body that show peoples muscles and tissues. Form my point of view this reminds me of plastic surgery. Recreating yourself is something that we commonly see today. Obliviously in Feed things are a bit more drastic and off the beaten path.  

Our lives are all consumed by “being the perfect person”, with the perfect body type. This can be facial or body. It’s almost as if being different is a sin. We are all beautiful in our own ways and we shouldn't need to change anything about us to be happy. We think about the acceptance of others before we think about ourselves. Plastic surgery is one of the ways that people accept themselves. It is a sad, but a true statement. So many people spend tons of money a year for a tummy tuck or nose job. Just so they can go through all that pain and recovery time to feel normal on the outside. This may help them to feel more accepted in cruel world we live in. 

 Some connections I made with the texts seem so realistic to the present. Titus states in the book when Quendy walks into the party.. “her whole skin was cut up with these artificial lesions. They were all over her.” (191).

“She raised her arms. The cuts were like eyes. They got bigger and redder when she moved”(192).

You’re,” said Marty “you’re covered with cuts.” 

“they’re not ‘cuts,’” she said smiling like he was an idiot 

“First of all, it’s the big spit. And second for your info, it’s called ‘birching,’ and they’re lenticels.”(193).

So here Quendy is looking at Marty like he is stupid. She calls these surgical lesions “the big spit.” Meaning they are totally the rad “fashion statement” to have nowadays. She just kinda bluffs Marty off, making it seem like he isn’t aware of the latest trend.

Titus sees Clastilla and Loga chatting with one another about Quendy. Titus suggest to the boys that they talking about how hard Quendy is trying to look good and feel the best, even if it isn't her on the inside. Titus chatted Violet as she did not understand why Quendy would do that to her body and why? 

“ I went, its all for Link. I guess she wanted to outdo Calista” (192).

Jealously at it’s finest. Quendy thinks if she gets these lenticels that Link will be so into her and finally move on from his old girl. This basically is the same as the girl that gets butt/breast implants. They know they look better and gain more confidence, I guess you could say? Like damn that’s hot. But, seriously why would you do that to yourself. Just so you could think you are better than everyone else?

I know some woman like to get this type of work done because it makes them feel better about themselves. I feel like this is something that needs to be changed in our country. There are too many young girls that are getting plastic surgery because they feel bad about themselves.  The media shows them how they should look. This is a terrible influence. The commercials, internet, billboards are all showing women the way they “should look”. 

The feed does the same thing to all of it’s characters by feeding them information on what to wear and how to be fashionable. Hoping to possibly make you want to change and pay for those changes. They are brainwashing the characters just like real life. Most of the time this works out for companies and yields profits. This makes woman feel like they need to look like that billboard or Instagram model. It is almost as if people make these changes their outlook on there lives change as well. 

It is all so superficial and I believe it takes away from us as human beings. Why should we modify ourselves like that? As I see these things ruin our society. They make people feel like they need to be the same they all need to fit the “perfect image" .

Your A1 Blogger, Chris S. 

Reference Cited:

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2002. Print.

The Little Things in Life

Every person who has ever loved something most likely ended up hating it sooner or later. For instance the song, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams became the most overplayed song on the radio in 2015. It became such a nuisance that people shut it out by changing the station to yet another overplayed song.

Titus, in the novel can be seen as one of those annoyed fans. During the first few conversations with Violet in the novel, he complains about being on the moon and going to Mars. He says, “The Red Planet was a piece of shit” (Anderson 37).

Honestly, who would complain about the chance to go to the moon or even Mars?!

Unless it's like attending school…

My first and initial experience at college was overwhelming. It was exciting. It was full of completely new and memorable experiences that I didn’t would actually affect me so heavily. Above all, it was just simply fun, but—and yes there is but, it got boring quickly. It got to this point once I started to handle an actual workload and started to develop no time for myself. I started to spend less time on the fun things that I actually enjoyed and immediately jumped into the business part of my education. After my second semester, everything became serious. It then became gray rather than just black and white. Everything became so bland and uninteresting.

Through my personal experience in college and after reading how Titus felt towards traveling to the moon and Mars, I understand how Titus feels in some ways. He just doesn’t find interest in what are considered the “norms” even if it’s so out of range during my lifetime. Although there might be a thick line between this parallel, it holds the same concept.

Concept being that sometimes things really do get annoyingly boring after a while. On the other hand, I think it comes down to the little things. For instance, it’s spending the time with my friends when I do have time. It's the things like eating a well prepared meal after eating dining hall food. In the book, before Violet and Titus shared their first kiss, they were looking outside a window where there was like a courtyard terrarium. They stared into the stars and lost themselves within it. I thought that was a change for the better. His response to it all was just, “Whoa” (62).

It’s crazy that the little things amount to the greater thing in life.

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2002. Print.

The Digital Age

Alright let's get right to it. I know for a fact that almost 90 percent of the human population is on their phone for most of the day. Okay, maybe not 90 percent of humans, but it is a very high number. Don't lie, you know your on your phone all day. There is no hiding the fact that we, as a society, have a problem. We can not go an hour without looking at social media or checking to see if we have a text message. In other words humans are addicted to the digital age. Don’t get me wrong, I am not hating on or bashing on the advancements in technology or the digital society that us, humans, live in today. There are many connections that can be made between the book Feed and the digital age of today. This book is driving home the nail so to say with the human population being “controlled” by such things as cell phones and the internet. In the book, there are occurrences such as digital pop ups, any information being found within seconds, and a reliance on a chip implanted in the brain of the beholder. Interesting isn't it? Sounds like something you may experience in your day to day life. Except the chip, of course. When I walk into a classroom at my university, almost every person in that room is using their cell phone. Why is that? Are we as people addicted? Or do we all have chips in our brain. Just kidding. Maybe. Anyway, in Feed the characters such as Titus experience pop ups, just as if we were searching the internet and a advertisement showed up on the screen. In the first 20 pages of this book there is an example of a “pop up”. A pop up comes out of nowhere that gives Titus an ad about what I believe to be a rocketship of some sorts (Anderson 15). It is very interesting to say the least. Also, these chips known as the feed, have an overwhelming amount of power over its beholder. These chips control their user. The characters in the book have a reliance on the chips just as us humans have a reliance on our cell phones and other forms of technology. There is an example in the first 50 pages of Feed when Titus and Violet are at a hospital and the ever so powerful “feed” was hacked and was temporarily unavailable.  Titus and Violet had no clue what to do. They did not do anything, Titus and Violet just sat there like lumps on a log. “What do we do” Violet asked, “I didn't know” stated Titus (44). Without the feed, these two characters are basically paralyzed. Once the feed was hacked, the reliance these characters had with the feed was gone. This reminds me a lot of my sister in a strange but very interesting way. She is 15 years old and she is always on her cell phone. One day my family took her phone away for a day. She was going crazy. She did not know how to live without her phone. She didn’t know what to do. What I am trying to get at here is that, the characters in Feed rely on the feed just as humans today rely on their cell phones and technology. It is a scary thought that technology controls our day to day lives even though we do not think it does. I dare you to try and go a day without technology or a cell phone. Then you will see how much our society relies on these devices. The feed controls these characters day to day life just as cell phones and other devices do today with us humans. It is actually very scary to think how much of an effect these items have on our lives. Our minds are being changed by this digital society, without these items we would not be able to function. So I guess what you can say is that we do have a chip in our brain just like the characters in Feed, it may not be a physical chip in our brains but there is definitely a chip that controls our lives. That chip is technology and all of its wonderful components.   

Joe F. Prompt 4

Works Cited

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2002. Print.

           

Titus is cool, I might just be cooler...

This book is a lot different than what I am used too. I believe that this novel really does give me a different feel to reading, I am throughly enjoying it and getting a great experience out of it.

It's like me and Titus are bros and think a like, word. 

I feel like the protagonist, Titus reminds me of myself. Throughout the reading so far I can see that he and his friends are rich and popular. They only worry about having a good time and not really focusing on bettering themselves in life. I see Titus as being someone different though, the way he acts is much different than of his friends and it shows a whole other side of him. I really think he began to show these differences after he meet Violet on the moon. She was seen as Titus to be different. Titus needed someone like Violet to change his perception on his outlook on life. I feel like he needed to express himself and Violet was the a main key to this change occurring. When he first met her he seemed to be so infatuated with her. Titus said, “ She was wearing a dress of gray wool….Gray wool. Black stockings” (Anderson 17) . This really showed how interested he was in getting to know her. It’s weird to say, but this demonstrates how intriguing she was to him even though she isn’t even showing cleavage. Let’s be honest no man pays attention to the women’s clothing unless it’s revealing. 

I feel like I can relate to Titus because he is different than everyone else, he makes it known in the novel with the way he acts. I act the same way in life. I hate being the same or following the same things in life, I like being different. I believe this opens up my mind to interesting and adventurous people and unique opportunities. If you are so caught up in yourself you will never really know what life is all about. 

At the same time I have a whole other feel on Titus. When he begins to talk to Violet about the moon he acts like the moon is no biggie and that it is just something he does on a regular basis. He seemed kind of stuck up and much different from when he was examining Violet. 

I can also relate how he acts to how I grew up. When I was in middle school I was always worried about fitting in and staying in the popular group. I tried my best to stay up with the latest fads/trends. Once high school came I approached it differently. I still kept the same friends, but was much more open to so many other people. I played football in high school and I had and made some awesome friends throughout my time playing. Some of  those friends that I grew up with were always uptight with letting new people into our friend group. I thought that it would be good to socialize  with different people just like how Titus met Violet. Some friends last lifetimes. Having friends that all are not the same creates an amazing experience and broadens your horizons. 

Titus is somewhat the same, I would say he has a more capabilities more so than his friends. I would not say he is smarter than them, just more curious and has a better understanding of the world around him. I am curious as well and always think about different things on and off topic. I feel like it is apart of me like it is apart of Titus. I believe he wants to be different than everyone else or many have different feelings? They are all so caught up in the feed you can not see the difference between one another. 

It is like when you connect with some people on different levels, things that really affect one another. When Titus speaks with Violet in the Hospital on the moon you can tell they have a different relationship. Titus says “I looked over at her face. I could see the light from my heartbeat on her tears” (Anderson 53) . I feel like they made a connection here when Titus saw this. It was something that was very big in their friendship. They really got to know each other while sitting in the hospital beds, you could tell that both of them were much more mature than the rest of the gang. 

I feel like if I was in Titus’ shoes I would act the same way with Violet, I find that different people are awesome. He knew something was special about her and he just really wanted to know her and get to understand her for who she is. I think it is a very pivotal moment in their relationship/friendships when Violet tells Titus that she has not fully recovered from the hack. I could sense through the text that It really affect her, being able to speak about the situation with Titus. If it were not for Titus she would have never been able to talk about something like this with the girls because they would not understand her and how she felt. 

Titus really does do a nice job at being a good guy so far in this read and it really is paying off for him. I hope that he does not change and turn into some asshole. I am very used to books that change my mind like that and ultimately ruin the book for me. 

Your A1 Blogger, Chris S. 

Reference Cited:

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick, 2002. Print.

WHY AM I TITUS?!

So far, I have only read the first 150 pages of M.T. Anderson’s young adult novel, Feed, and I can officially say I am hooked to this book the same way the teenagers (Titus and his friends) are hooked to the Feed. Off the bat, I took note of the first, opening sentence. 

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” (Anderson p.1)

By reading this opening sentence, my mind automatically went on guessing mode, wondering what this book was really going to be about. The first thing I noticed was the astonishing fact that these kids are taking a vacation on the moon. I mean how awesome is that? Right now I am dying to go to California, Hawaii, or Alaska and these kids are on the fuckin' moon! To make it even worse, the narrator doesn't even give a shit! This made me assume that this book probably takes place hundreds of years into the future, where going to the moon is a normal touristic trip that is taken for granted by everyone, or maybe just this kid.

From this first sentence I also notice that the narrator has to be a teenager around my age because of the way it says, “the moon turned out to completely suck.” This made me feel comfortable, in that I know that the narrator would be speaking through the eyes and mind of a person my age. Possibly a smart tactic used by M.T. Anderson to allow the young adult readers to get into the mind of the narrator more easily. Which brings me to a third point, that the book is probably going to be in the first person. As if I am thinking what Titus is thinking. Hmmm…..

Once I got past the first sentence, I noticed how much deeper I got into the mind of Titus. I was Titus, but I didn’t want to be. Why would anyone want to be this always bored, careless, emotionless, dry, and “feed-addicted” character. I mean come on, he’s spoiled and a little rich boy who doesn’t care about anything. His friends and him are like robots, they hunger for the feed. 

While on the moon, Titus meets Violet. Which I found to be weird because they are complete opposites. Perhaps, Violet will affect the way Titus will develop throughout the rest of the book? I don't know. Guess we will have to see. 

“Are you having a good time?”

         “The moon isn’t really working out.”

“Next time, maybe you should try Mars.”

         “Yeah, I’ve been to Mars,…………..It was dumb.” 

“Are you serious?”

         “Yeah, I’m serious.”

“Omigod,……. Mars is a whole planet.”

        “And it’s dumb!”

“Dumb?”

       (She was starting to piss me off) (p. 37)

Im going to cut the quote from the book there and make a quick interruption. How can you be pissed off by a person for feeling amazed. I mean how ignorant and spoiled are you? You are lucky enough to go to the Moon and Mars!!! Another reason why I hate how Anderson in a way forces the reader to be Titus. Throughout the book, we are feeling, seeing, and thinking what Titus is feeling, seeing, and thinking, but why? Why Titus?

While I was reading, I noticed that the phrase “holy shit” constantly appears in Titus’s mouth. Literally that is his answer to everything. I think he swears a lot because maybe he just doesn’t know what else to say. He uses “holy shit” as an escape from engaging into a deep conversation. Perhaps he is scared that he won’t have any words to say or add in to the conversation or that perhaps its just too much work and he’s used to being lazy in his conversations. A great example of one of the many times he uses this phrase is when Titus is talking to Violet about the hacker incident on the moon, she is telling him how her feed is damaged and legit, his only response to everything was “holy shit.” 

“Holy shit.”

        (…Violet says something…)

“Holy shit.”

        (…Violet says something else…)

“Holy shit.”

        “Calm, the rose will bloom ere long.” (p. 90-91)

Three times in one conversation. Shaking my head, if Titus were my bf and he answered “holy shit” three times while I'm talking about my “feed” being broken, I would have hit him. Honestly though, its like his brain doesn’t function properly, as if he's a mic and he needs the feed to talk for him. Its dumb! It just comes to show that because he has had the feed for a long time, he hasn’t been forced to think so much, hasn’t had to deal with difficult situations, and therefore does not know how to answer or respond appropriately in those situations. 

So, why Titus? You would think Violet would be a perfect narrator for this story. I mean I feel like I could relate more to her than I can with Titus. Actually, I think we would all relate better to Violet, right? Usually the main character is the nice one, the one who goes on an adventure to do something different and new; and that is Violet. She has a plan, a mission, and her perspective on the feed seems more appropriate to represent the readers. So why did Anderson choose Titus?? He is thoughtless and he isn’t really the reader’s favorite character. Titus is actually the complete opposite.  

Maybe Anderson is trying to get us thinking. I mean if he chose Titus it was for a reason. We don’t want to be like Titus, but the reality of the situation is that perhaps we are. We say we aren’t, but our actions speak otherwise. Think about it, how much time do we spend on our phones, listening to music, watching our favorite shows, shopping online, or looking for the latest trends? When we go out, even if its in the same area, do we take time to be grateful for that. When we grab a quick lunch with a friend, do we engage in real conversations or automatically check our friends snapchat story to kill time?

I mean, seriously, it wasn’t until today when I was walking on campus outside on my way to class and I noticed one thing everyone around me, including myself, had in common, we all had headphones on. It was surprising and it really got me thinking. I mean we say how much we want to get connected and meet new people, but individually, we silent ourselves and encircle ourselves in a bubble. We could wish we were like Violet, because she is trying to be different, she is trying to disconnect herself from this trap, but honestly, none of us are really trying. So, as much as we hate it, we are all actually exactly like Titus. Its the sad truth. Anderson chose Titus because he  wanted us to realize what we are becoming. He wanted to depict a character that would demonstrate who we will be if we don’t make a change now. This is just a story, Titus is a fictional character, but Anderson was right about this. We are becoming our own version of Titus. Its up to us now; first, we must acknowledge that there is a problem and then we will be able to change and look for the solution. 

Unplug the headphones. Put down the phone. Look around you and become the “Violets” of society. 

Resist the feed. 

~Leslie :)

WORKS CITED:

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002. Print.

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