This post is due by Tuesday, January 21 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rob.williamsATmadriver.com for partial credit.
1. Read FEED, books 1 and 2.
2. Blog FIVE specific aspects of the FEED world that are UNLIKE our own 21st century world, and FIVE specific aspects of the FEED world that are LIKE our own 21st century world. Use 2 sentences for EACH aspect, and combine textual quotations/page #s with your own analysis. (20 sentences total).
3. Identify ONE word or phrase of FEED speak, and what it means. (Example: "Unit" = dude, person, individual.")
4. Finally, which character in FEED do you find MOST interesting, and why, in 3 sentences? (Titus, Violet, Link, Quendy, Calista, etc.)
1. The FEED world has aspects that are similar to our own 21st century world, and others that are not.
ReplyDeleteFor example, writing with pen and paper is considered a thing of the past in the FEED world, simply because it’s more convenient to do it all in one’s head. Titus even calls Violet a “funny enchilada” for writing things down on paper (66). Further, the FEED world probably has clothes very different from those of our world. When Titus and his friends first see Violet, they seem surprised by her clothing with Link questioning, “What the hell’s she wearing?” as if he hadn’t seen anyone wear wool clothes before (21). In Titus’ world, people can travel to the moon and they aren’t just confined to staying on Earth. It’s considered so normal and part of everyday life that Titus says, “the moon turned out to completely suck,” which seems like a crazy statement to someone from the 21st century (1). Additionally, people no longer have to carry around laptops or use desktops because it’s all inside the human head. Plus with the introduction of the feed, “everyone [was] supersmart,” according to Titus (47). Finally, in the FEED world, Titus and his friends have lesions on their bodies, ranging from their foreheads to their feet. It seems normal for them, something that is a part of everyday life, but even they find Marty’s foot lesion “just disgusting” (24).
Like in today’s world, the world of FEED has a drinking age that teenagers are trying to get around. While looking for a way to spend their night, Link asks if “there was any place where [they] could drink without IDs?” (30). Hackers also exist in Titus’ world, but instead of hacking into actual computers/laptops, they hack into the feed running through everybody’s head. A police officer tells Titus and his friends that the person who had touched them “was a hacker and a naysayer of the worst kind” (46). Girls still seem to follow trends and what they believe is popular at the moment, as seen by Calista and Quendy’s reaction to Loga, the only one of their friends who hadn’t lost her feed due to the hacker, parting her hair differently. Titus notices that after Loga goes to the bathroom and returns with her hair parted differently, “later, without saying anything, [Calista and Quendy] went and did theirs different like that, too” (52). Regardless of how the education system has changed in the world of FEED, spring break still exists and so do the endless amount of teenagers looking for something fun to do with their time off from school. Unfortunately, Titus and his friends don’t seem to find the entertainment they’re looking for. Lastly, a cliché aspect of parent-child relationships seems to have stuck around, with Titus’ father trying to be cool or keep up with his son’s generation by using “dude” when speaking to him. However, the slang of Titus’ generation has evolved to use “unit” instead.
2. One word of FEED speak is skeeze, which means flirt.
3. The character in FEED that I find the most interesting is Quendy because she’s relatable and I felt sympathy for her when Titus said, “Quendy is just like a kind of broken, little economy model of Calista, and she knows that, and feels real bad about it” (25). I found myself rooting for her when Violet fixed her hair and she was finally the center of attention, if only for a moment. She shares the same insecurities and feelings as a lot of girls and because that part of her was highlighted, I was immediately interested in her character.
1. In the world of FEED, travel to unconditional places is common, like the moon of underwater. In the first chapter, Titus and his friends go to the moon, “but the moon turned out to completely suck” (3). The most interesting thing about the FEED world is the computer, or “feeds” imbedded in their brains. They send them constant signals of updated information and advertisements selling the next best thing like “Hostess M’s American Family Restaurants. Where time seems to stop while you chew” (16). An aspect to the feed is being able to “chat” with people near you, totally within your mind. Similar to texting but virtual, and it just pops up in front of your eyes, something you cannot do with technology today. Calista, Loga, and Quendy are really excited about lesions that they have, because it’s the new trend. They want them to be showcased, even though they’re open sores on their body. In the FEED world, the vast majority of people don’t write by hand anymore. Titus was surprised to learn that Violet did, saying “You write? With a pen?” (65).
ReplyDeleteSimilar to our world today, the FEED characters want to keep up on the latest trends, like clothes, hairstyles, and objects. Quendy, Loga, and Calista often “go to the bathroom because hairstyles had changed” (21). The kids still like to go out and have a good time, like teenagers today. They didn’t have fake ID’s so they couldn’t drink on spring break, and tried to find places that would serve them regardless. In the case of Titus’ family, family dynamic is very much the same, with parents having jobs and kids going to school. He has a younger brother, and told her “my father did some sort of banking thing and my mother was in design” (64). In FEED, there are still people who protest the system, as there are today as well. Kids on the moon yelling, “Chip in my head? I’m better off dead!” (32), mean to express their dislike for the current society. Hackers exist both in FEED and in our world today, but their method of disruption is different. In FEED they personally hack connections by touch, and today most hackers use computers as their tool.
2. The word “null” in FEED speak means boring.
3. I think Violet is an extremely interesting character, because she is so unlike the rest of the group she meets on the moon. She is alone, wearing clothes made of wool, which the girls found odd, and was clearly raised differently than the rest. Her father is a college professor who taught her how to write with a pen and read, and even calls herself “really pretentious” (66) because she choses not use the feed unlike most.
1.) Done.
ReplyDelete2.) Like our world: Fake Id’s. All these kids were still in high school so that meant they weren’t the legal age to drink but that doesn’t stop them. I can speak from experience that a majority of high school students will have a beer before graduation. Although these kids have a completely different lifestyle than us because their FEED is in their brain but they still act like foolish teenagers. “”Link was playing with his seat like an asshole. He was mobbing it forward and backward.” (5) It was nice to see that their life isn’t completely taken over by the FEED. At the parties in the hotel they knew that a majority of them could turn on their charm to get into the party. It was funny to hear them talk about this because this is every underclassmen’s worry about the weekend social life. “What the hell happened to the examination room, what’s with all the needles?” (59) This was the doctor walking in after the hooligans had played their version of darts. Link’s mother, who Titus described as a dragon, came in and yelled at the doctor telling him that these kids are going through a tough time. It was nice to see the parents still protect their kids. I would hope my mom would do the same thing. “We were talking about our families. I told her that I had a little brother. She said I hadn’t mentioned him. I said he was a lot younger and a real pain.” (64) It made me laugh to hear a brother call his only brother a pain. Especially at the age that Titus is because a teenage boy with a younger brother will almost automatically find him annoying, its how boys are wired.
Unlike our world: Titus talks about driving his upcar home in silence then describes how the FEED will fill him in on the music that he had missed. It seems that this replaces what we would know as the radio. “I tried to touch my credit, but there was nothing there.” (42) Titus could find the FEED but also couldn’t locate his GPS so at the last resort he opened his eyes. That would have been the first thing for any of us to do once we awake. Our phone, email or laptop can be hacked and that can send our life in many different directions but it doesn’t completely shut us down. Some people might argue this point but when I lose my phone it is not the end of the world. “Only Loga had not been touched by the hacker.” (46) They all had been hospitalized because their FEEDs had been hacked. If our computer were hacked we would not be hospitalized. “I had a few pages cached,” (50) yes, we all have cache on our computers but I bet twenty five percent of the kids in our class don’t know about cookies or cache. Most people will set something up on your computer that after having so many cookies or cache it will automatically clear it but Titus has to manually do it. Talk about a drag. “Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot. No m-chat. Just talking.”(55) It can be a little funny the first time someone sitting next to you texts you but after a while it gets annoying. It is much easier just to move our mouth and talk! I found this very funny that the father didn’t even think to “talk.”
3.) Youch: a combination of yuck and ouch. YOUCH!
4.) My favorite character from FEED would have to be Viloet simply because she doesn’t always use her FEED. I couldn’t imagine a world that we are surrounded by a FEED. I mean we already are with our phones and some people have a serious problem but my favorite people in life are the ones who don’t live on their phones. That is why I connect so well with Violet. She has appreciation for the natural world of what they still have. “Isn’t it beautiful?’ ‘It’s like….,’ I said. ‘It’s like a squid in love with the sky.” (62)
ReplyDeleteSimilar to our own world, these characters experience the “typical” emotions that every teenager goes through, including crushes, heartbreak, and a craving for crazy and new experiences. In the end of Part One, Titus explains in a very typical teenage boy fashion how, “that was why I kept looking at the girl in gray, and started to want, more than anything else that night, to be with her” (Anderson, 25). On a certain level, the way in which the feed is engrained within these people minds is sort of how our society operates, especially our generation. Although not literally, teenagers today have a certain reliability and dependence on media that is perhaps the theoretical version of the feed world, where we cannot and do not, want to escape from a media centered world and when Titus explains how he, “...missed the feed”, it is very reminiscent of teenagers today who cannot go minutes without checking their phones or social networking sites. The father figure in feed may be comparable to many fathers in real life, and his response to Titus asking, “how’s Smell Factor?”, and saying, “your brother has a name”, is very father like. (Anderson, 55). This relationship, one on one, exists within the framework of our 21st century world. The concept of “Spring Break” exists within the feed world and also has certain implications regarding partying. Titus’ and his friends all are very eager to party and meet new people, much like teenagers who go on spring break in our world. The importance of “trends”, like music or clothing also is prominent in the feed world. Titus talks about how, “we all talked about old music, like from when we were little, and all the stupid bands they had back then, and the stupid fashions we liked in middle school” (Anderson, 60).
In terms of something that is unlike our own twenty-first century world, the actual practice of being “plugged in” to a feed is unheard of in our society. The concept of m-chatting and having everything at your disposal without any effort is futuristic. Furthermore, the ability for humans to actually travel to the moon on spring break is not feasible in our world. Titus explains how, “we went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck” (Anderson, 3). Although in our society we have the ability to travel to the moon, this traveling is restricted to trained professionals who go for scientific reasons, not just to have a good time. The vocabulary within the feed world is also dramatically different than that of our world, and expressions such as, “but the braggest thing about the feed”, would only raise eyebrows in our society and not actually translate to a coherent sentence (Anderson, 48). Many of the activities that these friends experience do not exist in our world, such as going to a place, “where you could rent extra arms” (Anderson, 8). In addition, ordering, “some fancy nutrient IV’s from room service”, also does not exist (Anderson, 9). And finally, the also complete loss of independence from media does not exist in our world; however, it is certainly getting close. This is a world where a computer is a part of you, and there is no escape.
meg= very or really
I find Violet to be one of the most interesting characters in the book. Although she lives in a such a different world than ours, I find her to be very similar to typical teenage girls in our society,which makes her relatable. On another level, she is open yet closed off and I find her two demeanors to work harmoniously and make her an interesting character.
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ReplyDeleteMany characteristics of Feed are similar and yet conflicting to the world we know in the 21st century. There is a less formalized language used by adults in Feed. Everyone says “like” even parents and doctors. On page 55 in regards to his mother, Titus’s father says “She’s like whoa, she’s like so stressed out, this is….dude.”(55) which is pretty unconventional for a father to say in a 21st century perspective, at least in my experience. The characters of Feed have access to “the feed” through their heads. This constant exposure to information allows the characters of this century to be very intelligent, “you can look things up automatic, like science and history.”(47) All they have to do is think about a question and the answer is even more accessible than the swipe of a smartphone. If someone wants to send a message they can do so through their minds. Violet chats Titus, “this is a scene” on page 35 when the dance floor at the club gets rowdy. It’s also obvious that new technology was developed where people can fly to the moon or even mars for their own entertainment. This is something not just yet established in the twenty-first century, although people often say were getting close.
ReplyDeleteThe teenagers of Feed are still reminiscent to the teens of the twenty-first century. We can infer that Titus picks on his little brother, he even calls him “smell-factor.” (55) The teens still cope with the experiences of love and rejection that are all to familiar to adolescents of any generation, “I wondered if she wanted me to skeeze.” (24) Titus muses whether or not he should even attempt to flirt with Violet. The vernacular of the teenage characters in Feed is different from the words I use with my friends, “unit” is a common term in the text that I do not know. However, we both still use slang to communicate our feelings, something I find specific to the youth of many time periods. New words are created and accepted all the time such as “LOL” or “twerk,” this is not an unfamiliar process. Also people still protest in Feed. The Hacker who broke into the feed likens to hackers who break into websites now. People will try sending a message that thwarts the constant conformity present in both worlds. The adhering to new trends is characteristic to both time periods as well. Calista, Loga, and Quendy are perpetually changing their hairstyles to keep up appearances and be seen with the latest look.
“Mal” to not be in the right mind-set, malfunction.
The character I find the most interesting in Feed so far is Calista. I find her to be very superficial and jealous of the attention Violet receives from the guys, therefore I have a feeling she is going to be contributing to some drama in the novel. I don’t relate to her but it will be interesting to see the kind of character she becomes later on in the novel.
Feed is the idea that technology is implanted in everyone’s brains. Some of the aspects in the book are similar to our world today, and some are not. For example, in the first part of the book, Titus says, “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” That is completely normal in their society and time period whereas in this day and age, if someone were to say that, people would look at them like they were crazy. (3) In the Feed world, people are able to use their brain to access the functions of a computer. They talk about how incredible it is to them that people actually had computers which were outside of the body. (47) Titus is shocked that Violet actually knows how to write. His reaction to it is like it’s something so unordinary. (65) One of the aspects in Feed that is strikingly different from our world today is the whole concept of the feed in their brains. They have advertisements and other types of media constantly streaming through their minds. (27) In the feed world, they also chat with friends through their head, known as ‘m-chatting’. This is very different than our world because if we want to talk to someone, we will talk to them face to face, over the computer, or even the phone. (52).
ReplyDeleteAlthough many of the aspects of the Feed world are different, some of them are strikingly similar. For example, in the feed world, teenagers also like to go out and have fun. It also describes how, similarly to us, they also wake up the next morning not feeling so great after a night of going out. (6) Not only do these kids in the feed world go out like we do, but they also are trying to find a way around having to show their ID. It describes how Marty knew of one placed called Sombrero Dot that didn’t card people who came in for a drink (30). Although unlike the feed world, we have to use actual technology outside of our bodies to connect online, we are still ‘addicted’ to it in a sense. Page 42 describes how Titus started getting scared when he got disconnected from feednet. When we lose our phone or our laptop breaks, we immediately go into panic mode. The fake birds in Feed are in style. Kids were running through the hotel with these birds even though they were thought of as stupid and pointless. This is much like society nowadays because even if something is stupid, people will still buy and use it if it’s popular and in style. (32) Page 21 describes how Quendy and Loga went to the bathroom because the hairstyles changed. This is yet another example of how no matter what year it is, people are always trying to get the newest things or trying to be in style. This has to do with the mentality of ‘fitting in’.
Skeeze – flirtatious talk
My favorite character in Feed is Violet because she is not like the rest of the characters, in a good way. I think the fact that she didn’t get a feed until she was seven has made her have a better outlook on the whole thing. Violet is also able to write which none of the others can do. I also think she is a very relatable character.
UNLIKE: OK, so I guess one pretty obvious aspect of FEED that is unlike the world we live in today is that these kids are going to the moon. What? Yeah. The moon. For fun. Also, lesions seem to be pretty common, almost as if they were the future's version of acne. Not sure what Anderson’s intention was with this but it is certainly gross. The kids also seem to have an internet for their brains called “feednet,” which appears to be a form of social media, like Facebook or Twitter. One excerpt reads, “and the feed was pouring in on us now, all of it, all of the feednet, and we could feel all our favorites, and there were our files, and our m-chatlines. It came down on us like water. It came down like frickin’ spring rains and we were dancing in it” (70). On that same note, it appears that physically writing is a thing of the past. This is evident when Titus calls his girlfriend, Violet, a “funny enchilada” (66) for being able to write on paper. Not exactly the word I would call a girl I’m trying to get with but OK, whatever works for him I suppose. Finally, there is very little physical communication. When their feeds get hacked in Part 2, Titus and Violet are forced to speak with each other in person, and it initially feels very awkward for them, seeing as they're so used to conversing telepathically.
ReplyDeleteLIKE: The attitudes of the teenagers appears to be modeled off of modern teenagers with some flavorful hyperbole. This group of kids are extremely jaded and easily bored. Hell, the first line of the book reads, “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck” (3). Really? The moon? There are also still games like football and basketball, which apparently have stood the test of time, “...so for a long time we all watched the football game while the girls, the did something else on their feed” (9). They are all obsessed with how they look, like a lot of teenagers today as well, “we looked at ourselves. We all looked kind of bad. We looked tired and sleepy, and even though we’re all pretty good looking, except Link, we were all pale and our hair was greasy. We had the lesions that people were getting, and ours right then were kind or red and wet-looking” (11). Ew, TMI. It appears that these teenagers also developed a new language filled with linguo I’ve never heard of (omigod, unit, uptube, chic, brag, mal, meg, etc). I also thought it was comical how kids even the future are finding ways around the drinking laws to get completely hammered. Does Anderson honestly believe that the drinking age will still be 21 over a hundred years from now?
WORD OF THE DAY: Brag (cool, dope, awesome). “...the braggest thing about the feed, the thing that made it really big, is that it knows everything you want and hope for” (48).
FAVORITE CHARACTER: My favorite character thus far is probably Link because he is the funniest. I know it’s hard not to like Titus, the first person narrator of the book, but from his eyes I think Link is the most interesting. He is the ultimate frat boy looking to party and have a great time. I think I can relate to his sense of humor and mien the most. He is one cool unit.
In the world of ‘FEED’ almost everyone has the FEED installed in their brain and it broadcasts news, information, and advertisements to them all the time. It is constantly telling people what they should want and what they should buy. (p. 48) ‘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.
ReplyDeleteAnother way the FEED world is unlike our own world is that kids can go to the moon. “We went to the moon to have fun but it turned out to completely suck.” (3)
One thing that the FEED world has that our world does not have is in the FEED people have lesions on their bodies that are fashion statements. “Like big thanks for not telling me that my lesion is like meg completely spreading.” (21) Even though lesions are open sore that are caused by toxins in their environment people think that they are fashionable and are even getting fake ones just to “look good”.
Everyone in the FEED world is able to chat in their minds. This is like texting but they can just think it.“Someone had left a message in my head which I found, and then kept finding everywhere I went, which said that I was currently disconnected from the feednet.” (41)
In the FEED world instead of having cars and driving on streets on the ground people use flying upcars and the streets are tubes. “As we were driving through the tube streets…” (31)
One thing in our world that is like the FEED world is that kids want to be kids. Kids want to want to have fun,hangout with their friends, go to parties and get drunk.
Kids in our world today like to go shopping just like the kids in the FEED world. Kids in both worlds are very influenced by peer pressure and advertising and want to be cool.
Kids in both worlds like staying in style and having cool things. “Quendy and Loga went off to the bathroom because hair styles had changed.” (20) The girls felt they had to be so updated to the current trends they were constantly changing what they looked like.
Another thing in our world that is like the FEED world is that the kids still have parents and live with families. Parents in both worlds have jobs and and take care of their kids.
In both the FEED world and our world the kids have a special slang language. In FEED they use words like “Unit”, “Null” and “Meg”.
The expression “da da da da” in FEED speak means “blah blah blah blah” or whatever
I think Titus is the most interesting. He likes Violet because she is different and he likes that she know about all kinds of real things. But he doesn’t understand how the FEED is filling their minds with just shopping and entertainment, and nobody really knows what’s happening in the world anymore. He is really caught between the cool world of his peers and Violet’s world which is about caring about the past what is really happening.
Feed Parts 1 & 2
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2:
FIVE specific aspects of the FEED world that are UNLIKE our own 21st century world:
“… I was currently disconnected from the feednet, of course, and I was starting to get scared…” (43). From this, I think that the people in the Feed world are more dependent on technology than in the 21st century world.
In the Feed world, technology is hands-free and computers are implanted into people’s brains. However, “before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes” (48), in the 21st century.
In the Feed world, people mainly communicate to others with their mind through the feednet. Conversely, in the 21st century world, people do not communicate through their minds but rather by talking with each other.
It is not as important for people to know how to read and write in the Feed world as it is in the 21st century world. “You write?” I said. “With a pen?”… “She asked me, “Do you know how to read?” I nodded. I can read. A little.” (65).
“That’s one of the great things about the feed—that you can be supersmart without ever working” (47). The Feed world differs from the 21st century because it accesses information faster than the internet.
FIVE specific aspects of the FEED world that are LIKE our own 21st century world. Use 2 sentences for EACH aspect, and combine textual quotations/page #s with your own analysis. (20 sentences total).
Everything that goes on in the 21st century world is also presented on the internet. Similarly, in the Feed world, “Everything that goes on, goes on on the feed” (48).
“That’s one of the great things about the feed—that you can be supersmart without ever working” (47). In the Feed world, accessing information through the feed is just like accessing information through the internet in the 21st century world.
In the Feed world, they sometimes communicate in terms or code (shortened words) similar to what we use for email or texting in the 21st century. In the Feed world, they use words such as mal, unit, brag, meg, etc.
Unfortunately, viruses can occur in both the 21st century world and in the Feed world because people can hack into the system. “They said that they had identified him, and that he was a hacker…” (46).
Even though the way to access information is different in each of these worlds, we still use this outside access, such as the feed and the internet, to find out the best deals for us. For example, Titus was in a store and wanted to buy infrared knee bands and realized that he could “get better ones off the feed” (31).
Question 3:
Identify ONE word or phrase of FEED speak, and what it means. (Example: "Unit" = dude, person, individual.")
“I want to get weasel-faced” (33). Meaning, I want to get drunk.
Question 4:
Finally, which character in FEED do you find MOST interesting, and why, in 3 sentences?
Violet is the most interesting character to me because she does not entirely rely on the feednet to communicate to others. When Violet was writing a note to Titus, it was seen as an uncommon way of communicating in the Feed world. Since the book has only so far given us a vague description of Violet’s family, we are left with an unclear image of who Violet really is.
2. Like:
ReplyDelete“I missed the feed…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.” (p. 47-48)
Titus’ feelings after losing the feed are similar to what a lot of us would feel if we have to give up our cell phones and internet connectivity for a few days. Personalized ads and online forums make us feel like someone else understands us, like we’re not alone, and that there is something out there that will make us happy.
“Later after some showers we went to ricochet lounge…The place had been hip, like, a year and a half ago…Now the place just looked old and sad.” (p. 11)
There are fad clubs and vacations spots in the Feed world just like there are now. Even though the moon may sound cool to us in 2014, it’s kind of like Disney World: you can only go so many times before you’ve ridden all the rides.
“Link and I were chatting about the girl, like I was going, She is meg youch, and he was going, What the hell’s she wearing?” (p. 21)
In this particular scene, Titus and Link are using their Direct Feed messaging to talk about Violet, even though she is still in the room. It’s just like texting one person something even though you’re surrounded by people.
“Of course, everyone is like, da da da, evil corporations, they’re so bad, we all say that, and we all know they control everything.” (p. 48)
Even now the general public knows that there are big corporations that own everything and everyone, and that eventually they will rule our lives in a much less covert way. But also, as Titus goes on to explain, no one will do anything about it because they give us we want (or what we think we want), and without them we wouldn’t have the material possessions or technological advances that we crave.
“Quendy bought some shoes, but the minute she walked out of the store she didn’t like them anymore. Matty couldn’t think of anything he wanted, so he ordered this really null shirt. He said it was no null it was like ordering nothing.” (31)
Titus’ society, like ours, is a consumerist culture. We are so focused on buying things that we don’t even realize we don’t want what everyone is selling.
Unlike:
“We had the lesions that people were getting, and ours right then were kind of red and wet-looking.” (p.11)
Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t seen anyone walking around with oozing, open sores all over their bodies. It may be a metaphor for another, invisible pandemic sweeping teenage culture, but I’m not quite sure which one.
“She and the girls spent the rest of the hour fixing Quendy’s hair to like showcase the lesion.” (p.25)
I find it interesting that the group is spending so much time emphasizing a flaw of Quendy’s. Usually, people want to hide features that are perceived as “gross” or “different,” but not in Quendy’s case.
“I looked at her funny. ‘You write?’ I said. ‘With a pen?’” (p. 65)
Even though we are fast approaching this stage where everything is typed, it’s still scary to think that 99.9% of Titus’ society cannot write. Additionally, it’s considered ‘pretentious’ to use anything other than the feed to communicate.
“’Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot. No m-chat. Just talking.’” (p.55)
Titus’ dad, a powerful business man, is talking like a fourteen-year old! No business professional now would ever be hired if they lacked this much eloquence.
3. “Skip” (p.57), seems to mean ‘fun, amusing, or entertaining.’
4. Quendy is the most interesting character to me because she is described as “Calista light,” always nudged just into the shadows. She never has any attention paid to her, and is so wrapped up in being noticed that she flaunts a skin lesion. She is interesting in that she literally is just like a watered-down version of everyone else, trying to keep up in a world where it is so easy to fall behind.
Meg brag FEED reflections, Units.
ReplyDeleteMissing in Action:
Aaron
Reilly
Christine
Maeve
Jane
Don't be bashful - be blog'Full!
Unit W
2.
ReplyDeleteAlthough FEED takes place in a completely different time period, some aspects of their lives coexist with ours. The FEED that they use as their connection to the world, is vulnerable and easily hacked. Similar to our laptops and Facebook accounts, our information is acquired. We learn that FEED is extremely vulnerable because "only Loga had not been touched by the hacker" out of their friend group (46). Comparatively, both time periods have rules on the legal age of alcohol. Now a days, teenagers prefer to try and rig the system by getting a fake ID or, like in FEED, try to find places that will have a friendly bouncer and will let you in (30). Another similarity I see is, what I like to call, a strong sense of FOMO. FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) has been a problem of mine even as a baby when I would refuse nap time if people were over. Sometimes I worry about missing a trip to Chipotle or not knowing the score of my friends hockey game. In FEED their FOMO is a bit stronger than mine, in that when they "missed the FEED" they practically have an anxiety attack such as Titus does (55). Right now I am listening to Spotify, and after several songs an Ad about free Wendy's will come on. Now, I love my Wendy's, but they get annoying after hearing it the past three hours. FEED shows advertisements just as often that tell you what you want even before you want it (48). Alike my current situation, in which I am now hungry… thanks Wendy's. Along with these advertisement and websites, they like to keep the world up to date on the latest trend. I followed the latest styles from the Golden Globes, and I questioned some outfits, but that is what's "in." Also similar to FEED, they are constantly informed on the newest trends. Similar to my reactions to the Golden Globes, Link comments "What the hell's she wearing" (21). I was thinking the same thing.
The differences between our two lifestyles is drastic. The FEED that they use is an internal technology that they can just think it and it will be sent to someone or will search the web. This was the most noticeable difference between our worlds. They don't even talk to each other with their mouths, which I see as crazy. As time goes on language does change, and it is shown well in FEED. They have developed different words to have completely deranged meanings. My favorite lingo change is that everyone, including doctors and teachers, say "like." It angers me when teenagers now say like, I can only imagine being surrounded in likes, I would explode. I think it is hilarious how foreign writing with a pen is to them. Not only is that abnormal, but writing in general is alien to them. "You write? With a pen?" (65). I love that the FEED gives you the ability to "look up things automatically." When you think of a question the answer pops up in your head. This easy access to the internet makes them overly intelligent. The one difference that I will never wish is that "everything that goes on, goes on FEED." I would never want everything that I do to go on the internet.
3. Omigod- Oh my God
4. I love the character Violet because she is more humane. She doesn't always use her FEED and I think that it makes her more human and less computer/robot.
PART 1:
ReplyDeleteThe most obvious thing in FEED that is not like our 21st century world is the aspect that they have computers or bootsticks in their bodies which is their 'feed’ which can tell them anything they want to know, can give them anything they desire sometimes before the characters even know they are desiring it. It is their form of communication, their TVs, computers, their everything and it was a part of them as any other organ in your body would be. "I don't know when they first had feed… Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were outside their body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breathe" (Missing the Feed, 47). In the FEED, they do not use words and talk to communicate, they use a program on their 'feed' which programmed into their heads called m-chat. The idea of communicating using their mouths is foreign to them. "He seemed surprised, and then blinked. He said, "Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot. No m-chat. Just talking" (Father, 55). The third thing in FEED that is unlike our 21st century is that they can go to the moon "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck" (Your Face is not an Organ, 1). The 4th way that FEED is not like our lives is the fact that the feeds give everyone jobs so there is no unemployment in their world. Even if you do not want the computer inside you, you do not have a choice because their lives are created around these computers and life as they know it could not go on without the feeds. Lastly, their styles change frequently and quickly. They can be out and the style changes and as quickly as it came up on their feeds, they changed to the new style. “Quendy and Loga went off to the bathroom because hairstyles had changed” (The Nose Grid, 20).
What is similar between FEED and todays society is our dependency on electronics. If we get our electronics taken away from us, we do not know how to function at times, and we start to get withdrawals almost to the point of emptiness. “We were freightened, and kept touching our heads. Suddenly, our heads felt real empty” (Still Boring, 46). Second aspect that is similar between our worlds is teenagers enjoy some of the same past times on the weekend and they face the same struggles of not being able to drink underage. “I want to get weasel-faced” (The Moon is in the House of Boring, 33). Thirdly, girls try to keep up with the latest styles and we change our appearances so stay up to date. We want to know what is the next up and coming style as soon as it comes out and if one person does it, people will follow the trend. Fourth, both worlds have imperfections on our bodies that we are insecure about. We have birthmarks, freckles, acne, etc. and they have lesions. “’How can you not?’ said Quendy. ‘It’s huge, and it’s right on my forehead. Its like bonnnnng!’” (The Nose Grid, 21). Finally, both worlds can access any information we want at any point in time. Though they do not have to put it into the phones (such a hassle) any information we want to find out is at the tips of our fingers.
PART 2:
“Weasel-faced” – drunk
PART 3:
The person I find most interesting is Violet. The other characters are pretty easy to read into their personalities, they are not complicated and are pretty much an open book (punny). Violet is compassionate, but standoffish and the minute you think that she is about to open up, she goes back to her distant ways. Her mysterious personality makes her a very interesting character.
Differences:
ReplyDelete1: In FEED, they are able to go to the moon. “We went to the moon to have fun” (Anderson 3). They can go to another planet to have fun, whereas today, we might go to the movies or somewhere just down the road.
2: No one writes; it is very unlikely because people mainly just communicate through the chat on the Feed. The only person who we’ve met so far that can write is Violet; “‘You write?’… ‘With a pen?’... ‘Sure,’ she said, a little embarrassed” (Anderson 65).
3: They have chips in their brains that connect them to the Internet all the time. It allows them to watch TV, movies, chat, buy things, etc. An example of how much they use this would be when his dad finally gets to the hospital and tries to communicate through the feed: “”Oh. Shit. Yeah, I forgot. No m-chat” (Anderson 55).
4: They’re like robots, not only do they have chips in their brains, but its almost as if it controls their entire bodies. For example, when they are at the club and come in contact with the hacker, it’s not only their feeds that don’t work, but they almost couldn’t function at all and had to be taken to the hospital.
5. Kids in Feed seem to get off a lot easier than they do this day in age. If I went out one night and ended up in the hospital for something, I don’t think my parents would be too happy. However, in the book, when Titus’s dad first shows up at the hospital, he was upset that they wanted to subpoena Titus’s memory, but he wasn’t at all disappointed in Titus (Anderson 56).
Similarities:
1: They are attached to social media, kind of like we are. They use it for communication, shopping, updates, movies etc. An example of this would be when Loga came to the hospital to visit them and watched the show Oh? Wow! Thing! In her head while she told the others what was happening in the episode. This is like how we use Amazon for shopping, Netflix for shows and movies, and things like Facebook for communication and updates.
2: They find the outside world less interesting than their Feed, even other planets, like when Violet brings up wanting to go to Mars. “‘Next time, maybe you should try Mars’ ‘Yeah, I’ve been to Mars,’ I said. ‘It was dumb” (Anderson 37). This is kind of like how kids now don’t find going outside fun, they are more interested in playing with their parents’ phones.
3: In both cultures, money never seems like enough. Even after buying something, it’s not enough, and we still crave more, so we tend to buy more, or we just buy things to buy things. “Marty couldn’t think of anything he wanted, so her ordered this really null shirt. He said it was no null it was like ordering nothing” (31).
4: Big businesses adapt to people’s wants and needs for entertainment, so they have put a lot of chain restaurants and things on the moon. Ex: “J. P. Barnigan’s Family Extravaganza,” “Ricochet Lounge” (Anderson 10), (Anderson 11).
5. They use a lot of slang like we do, even though it is a lot different. I think that this shows that even though the times may differ, teenagers will still come up with ridiculous terminology that is really unneeded. Ex: Meg, null, unit, etc.
Word/Phrase Definition:
“Null”= Bored, boring, dull.
Favorite Character:
I find Violet the most interesting because she is not as reliant on the Feed as the others in the group. She writes on paper, something that no one does anymore, and can even read a little. She is also curious about the other planets that they can travel to, unlike everyone else. She hasn’t become as bored of the real world because of the Feed, she still finds it interesting and worth exploring not just on her Feed.