I think the teenagers of Feed take digital addiction to a new level. Today, technology takes over a lot of younger peoples lives in many ways like through T.V, computers, cellphones, I pods, Social networking and etc... but it doesn't make up our whole lives. The kids of Feed are very similar to us but I feel their whole lives are just focused on their feeds. There is a possibility that his book my be a grim glimpse of our future. The feed provides all the things most Americans are interested in today, just in one convenient package . Tidus and his friends literally use their feeds for EVERYTHING, IMing, calling people, watching popular T.V shows, finding out the latest rends and etc...There feeds update them on the latest celebrity gossip, hairstyles, music, basically all updates in recent pop culture.
Somethings I thought were weird were the effects the feed was having on the characters in the book. One that I found VERY weird was the fact that when Titus's dad came to visit him in the hospital, he talked just like Titus. He was using all the popular slang, he sounded just like one of the teens. "(Titus) How's mom?" "(father) She's like, whoa, she's like so stressed out. This is...dude" he said "Dude, this is some way bad shit" (page 55) I don't see many adults doing this now, my parents do sometimes and they pick it up from me and my sister. I think the result of his fathers weird speech may be from two things. The feed is ether producing so much new slang that the kids are using and now his fathers using it, or his father can go straight to the feed and learn the new slang so he can be "hip". I don't know why but when adults try and say stuff like "mad", it freaks me out which is kind of mean. They should be aloud to say it too, its just that it sounds bad enough coming from a kids mouth it just sounds worse coming from an adults.
Another thing I noticed is that they all were going into withdrawal when they couldn't use the feed. When Titus is in the hospital, he begins to think of life before the feed and compares the feed several times to vital organs. "I miss the feed. I don't know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and eyes. Computers were all outside our bodies. They carried them around outside them, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breath" page 47. I think it's very disturbing how Titus is comparing technology to something you need to live. He doesn't need the feed, but because it provides everything for him and its in their brains I'm assuming their all getting addicted to it. He also sounds so lazy saying we had to use our eyes and hands for our todays technology. Why would you ever want to lose ability to use one of your body parts?
I think both of these elements are elements of tragedy. Human's rely on technology that much were they limit the activity of their EYES? Sight is a gift, I have no idea why you would want to waste it. Also it just seems like all this dependancy on technology is making people dumber. The father talks like he is some 15 year old kid which just makes him look ridiculous. How can you take someone like that seriously when they sound so dumb. Also Titus is complaining about how people had to use their hands to operate things like cellphones and such which just makes him sound so sad because they have taken technology to the next level were its becoming dangerous towards their health. I'm not saying modern technology now isn't damaging towards health but I'm sure if we had feeds now, the obesity rate would sky rocket. For me, the feed would be something I personally wouldn't want. The feed seems meaningless to me. All the things it provides would not help me in my daily life, it would just slow me down. I could careless about celebrities lives, hair styles or the latest American Music since they have ling lost my interest.
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