Feed Blog

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Feed by M.T. Anderson focuses on a ground of teenagers living in a dystopian future where each of them has a direct connection to the internet implanted in their brains. The obvious theme of the book is the danger that the rapid advancement of technology can have on society, but I think it's important to focus on how media can influence one's adolescence. Throughout the novel we see the main character, Titus, interacting with his friends in ways that is seen to be normal, until he meets a girl his own age that the audience can more closely relate to. I think the novel heavily focuses on how excessive use of technology can negatively impact someone's social skills. Another aspect that feed focuses on that is relevant to teenagers is the impact that technology can have on one's self image. 

In the novel, Titus befriends a girl named Violet who is immediately different from the rest of his friend group and it is later revealed that she has been home-schooled and only got "the feed" like the rest of them after she turned seven which leads to major health problems later in the novel. Many of Titus's friends see her as a snob because of how she speaks in full sentences and how she knows how to write. This immediately makes me think of how important it is to teenagers will often bully one another if they are at all different. The whole plot of the film Mean Girls is a group of popular girls bullying the main character because she wants to be like them. It isn't until after Titus meets Violet that we feel like he's trying to change himself to be more like her. Violet mentions, "You're the only one of them that uses metaphor." (63) showing that Titus is arguably more intelligent than the rest of his friends. 

The Feed that each character has implanted in their head shows how reliant each character is on media. During the hospital scene, all any of them can do is sit and stare at the wall. It isn't until the second day do they start having to entertain themselves. This shows their reliance on media and how Titus becomes scared whenever he can't message someone while he's in the hospital. The only one of Titus's friends that is not hacked shows up at the hospital and doesn't fully pay attention to them. "She would pause and we could tell she was m-chatting all the news back to our friends on Earth. Occasionally, she'd forget and she'd say out loud to no one, "Omigod! Yes! Right here!" or "Hello...?" or whatever it was she was saying in her head. She would laugh at jokes we couldn't hear." (52) showing how impersonal the characters can be. It's even referenced how the characters will change their appearance instantly after hearing about a new style or how most of the advertisements directed at them are referencing their appearance. 

I think that Feed works as a strong adolescent novel because it warns about how technology can influence one's personality. I think this book can also be used as a way to warn students about the negative impacts that social media can have, which is scary considering Anderson published the novel in 2002. The novel mainly focuses on how teens have changed due to the rapid advancement of technology and how Violet is the character that readers would consider to be the most normal. 

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