Feed, pt. 2

So I guess I went a little overboard with my first post on Feed. This one will be shorter :) I both enjoyed and disliked the book. As a stand-alone piece of literature, it was great. I'm not a big sci-fi fan (unless you consider Harry Potter sci-fi, which is a whole 'nother discussion), but as a piece of literature, I thought it was well written.

However, as a societal commentary, I was a little disturbed by it. I hope this isn't where society is going. The idea of feeds literally becoming parts of our bodies disgusts me. I believe that it's important for everyone, not just kids and teens, to "disconnect" every once in a while. As much as I enjoy my general internet tomfoolery, there are some days when I just don't want to be around the computer. The children in Feed didn't have that opportunity, and it makes me sad that some people actually want a life so connected.

The dumbing-down of language, or "teenspeak," is another disconcerting point. I hear it all the time, and it drives me crazy. Many of the students at my school, and many of the students in my graduate courses (about 20 years dividing the two groups) pepper their sentences with the words, "like, um, yeah, uh, y'know, I dunno." Not only is it difficult for them to be understood, it makes them sound unintelligent.

Overall, I think the book was written as something of a warning. If we continue at the path we're going, look at where we'll end up - feeds in our heads, hacking our own bodies, disconnect and die. Anderson seems to believe that we're too connected for our own collective good.