FEED/INTERNET

Fausto Benitez 

In the first couple of pages I was confused and asked myself “What is this feed thing they talk about”? In the novel, Feed by M.T. Anderson, feed is a chip that is inserted in people’s heads which is supposed to make them wise and intelligent. “It allows them to have access to digital databases, online chat, and entertainment. We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck” (Anderson 3). This is how the novel starts and it is 100 years from now where everything is different and people are introduced to this new thing called feed. The people in this society believe is an advantage for them because everything is easier to access. Anderson says, “People were really excited when they first came out with feeds. It was all da da da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips, closer than their fingertips, etc.” (47). Everything is at their fingertips and can access anything very quick. They can even travel to the moon something new we never expect to happen in hundreds of years from now.

This novel speaks to my personal experience because it’s has strong connection to what technology has made me turn into. For example, I always use my cellar device to search up an answer to a question I might not know the answer to. I simply go onto google and type the question. I search it up and the first thing that comes up are answers.com or yahooanswers.com. I always assume their answers are right. Similar to the novel they believe that feed is going to give them an advantage from everyone who doesn’t have them because it will give them access to anything they ask. But this is making them stupid. iPhones or any device in a similar matter are making us more stupid as. Why? You might ask. Well, first we aren’t reading textbooks anymore because we can access every answer online so we don’t simulate knowledge into our brains. We simply search it up and assume that it’s the answer. iPhones, computers, tablet, etc., are the new feed in my life and in everyone’s life.

As the author writes, “People were really excited when they first came out with feeds” (Anderson 47). Similar to fans of the iPhone they have a huge excitement when a new iPhone comes out. I feel a strong excitement because I expect something new on the new device. Everyone goes crazy for this new piece of technology. iPhones have become the new feed in our society.

Is feed something we have now? YES. When a professor first walks in to class the first thing they see is everyone on their devices. There is no socialization anymore. This has become the new thing in many college campuses and socialization with other students is stopping. Seeing students talk to one another is rare. Anderson says, “I looked around me. Everyone was nodding their heads to music, or had their eyes just blank with the Feed cast. It was just a party” (83). I relate to this situation a lot because in high school during study hall all my friends and I were on our phones and used them as our way to communicate to one another.

The author says, “this big educational thing, da da da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips, closer than their fingerprints” (Anderson 47). Similarly, this also has a strong connection to my life because when the internet first came out everyone thought it was going to be used as something helpful. My parents thought it was the best thing that could have happened. As years past by, we realize that the internet can be harmful. The internet can be turned into something bad if it isn’t used correctly. There are hackers, inappropriate sites and false information. For example: cyber bullying is common now a day where people insults others and use this peace of advance technology in their favor. They bully others by name calling them or exposing them for something they did in the past. This is the feed because as we read in the novel, the guys got hacked by someone which caused them to not have control of it. Ever since my parents knew the reality behinds the internet I had many restrictions throughout middle school and some part of high school. They read articles of what the internet can cause to someone so this opened their eyes. I was given a certain amount of time to use the computer. If I used it for homework it was only for homework and nothing else.

People have turned the internet into something bad because there are hackers who want to access your information. This is happening now where hackers want to hack people Facebooks accounts or they want to access you banking accounts to steal your money. The author explains, “he told us that we could be off-line for a while, until they could see what had been done, and check for viruses” (Anderson 48). Even in this world of feed, people still experience viruses and hackers. This is no different from the world we are currently living in.

According to the author, “everyone can be supersmart now. You could look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought and shit” (Anderson 49). This states a false statement indicting that the feed isn’t that smart itself. Similar to the internet we use now. I remember once in high school I had to do a history worksheet and the first thing I did was go on the internet to search up the answers and bammm… I found the answers to my worksheet and used them. The next day I handed it in and got a 50 because some were incorrect and incomplete. I honestly thought all the questions were right but my teacher was looking for textbook answers. The internet has had a negative effect on my life because I learned that many things in the internet are fake and are trying to fool us. We all believe everything we search up online. When we need to look up an answer we search it up and we don’t really know if the answer is correct or not. This is making us dumber as human beings because we aren’t taking the time to think about what the answer could really be or simply opening a textbook.

Feed and the internet/iPhones are very similar. First, the internet/iPhones are the feed in today’s society. I believe they are similar because we used text in order to communicate with other. In Feed they use chat and that’s they way of communicating. Second, the internet is making us the human beings dumber similar to what the feed is causing to people in the book. Lastly, I believe everyone can connect to my situations that has happened to me so please watch out because feed is happening now. So yeah guys our feeds are iPhones and internet so be careful. 

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2002

Print.

Fausto

Question 2