Feed is about a society that has progressed in the technological age and has developed chips that are implanted in the back of the head. Many get the chips at an early age, and most of them lack the ability to read and write.
The main characters of the book, Violet and Titus meet each other on the moon. As their relationship grows Titus learns that Violet is able to read and write unlike most teenagers their age. She had gotten the feed installed at the age of seven so it wasn’t as “snug” as the other feeds.
Over the years we have made large technical advances and we continue to progress and develop new ideas. Now we have cell phones that have the Internet, and can be activated with a touch of a button. The iphone can take a picture of something and identify it. This technology has made our lives more resourceful and efficient, but with the access to this information we don’t always learn from it. You see this in Feed. The characters have all the information possible at their fingertips, but they aren’t able to assimilate the information. They use the information they need and then dispose of it failing to learn.
Technology is great, but with it rapidly increasing we may become lazy. It is scary that one day our society could be less educated if our technology increases to the extent of Feed. This book has really made me question who we are as a society and how much we have changed over the years and where we will be as we advance into the 21st century.
Parents often say that our generation has it easier and doesn’t work as hard, but it may be related to advances in technology. This might become a trend, which ultimately would make generations to come helpless. This is represented in the book. For example, when Titus, Quendy, Link and Violet were all in the hospital with their feeds down, they didn’t know what to do with themselves, let alone think for themselves. The technology, in this case, the feed, didn’t exercise the mind as much as reading or looking up information in other ways. The author has attempted to show the reader the risks of a society that comes dependent solely on technology.
The storyline of Feed is based on a futuristic world, and is written as if a teenager were writing it. I found that the quality of the writing would be unacceptable to most English teachers and I struggled through the introduction, which did not motivate me to continue reading. M.T Anderson did make a valid criticism of the future and the book was thought provoking. The writing style didn’t appeal to me and I would not recommend this book for others to read.
