So, Where are we Headed?
“Did you ever read Feed?”
This week I spend mostly at home because I’ve been sick and it’s been not that fun. My brother came over for dinner one night and — since he’s been off Facebook for a number of years and is also a big tech nerd — I thought he might have some interesting thoughts on what we’ve been learning so far in RTA 902. Filter bubbles really peaked his interest and he sat quietly for a moment before asking me the aforementioned question.
He went on to talk about a young adult novel he’d read fifteen years ago called Feed. Because it had been so long since he’d read it, we did a quick search to determine whether or not it was all a bizarre dream. It exists, and the more we read about it, the more uncomfortable we felt.
Feed is a young adult novel written in 2002 by M. T. Anderson. It describes a dystopian near future where the internet is essentially connected to the human brain through an implant called a ‘Feed’. People can access websites and information with their brains, but they are also shown personalized advertising based on their interests and even — discovered later in the novel — what they dream about. A large portion of the country is driven by corporations and consumerism.
The ecosystem in this future is also extremely polluted, to the point where artificial and trademarked clouds are in the sky instead of the natural ones.
Most of the characters are satisfied with their consumerist lifestyle, and several are so drawn in by the Feed that they are entirely unaware of events occurring around them. The only character that resists the Feed ends up getting sick. Her body begins a slow and painful shut down until she dies.
Now the whole novel is an interesting take on what the entire future might look like. As far as the internet aspect, do I think that Feed describes where we’re headed?
Well it isn’t attached directly to our brains yet, and it has no access to our dreams unless we write about them online. But we have access to boundless information, and we’re also crowded with advertisements that are personalized just for us. Many people are content to stay within that bubble and ignore the issues going on around them. This is reflected in Feed through the disastrous state of the planet and the uncaring, uninterested attitude the characters have towards that issue. They’re even vaguely aware of it, but they’re more interested in their Feeds.
It’s not exactly wildly unbelievable anymore. Fifteen years ago when my brother read it he thought it was creepy and cool, but he didn’t draw any parallels. Facebook was founded two years after the book’s release, and social media really took off with the creation of YouTube in 2005 and 2006.
I think this is less of the dystopian vision the internet is propelling us towards, but rather one we’re already surpassing. This is unfortunately kind of where we’re at right now. We’re also bordering the suspension of rights that’s described in The Handmaid’s Tale, or the blissful ignorance of Brave New World.
Essentially, I feel we’re at kind of a tipping point. The internet has given us a lot, but it’s also been rather restricting since filter bubbles. We have studies on how much pleasure we get from social media and surfing the internet. It’s addictive, we’re all hooked. Despite my brother’s criticisms of Facebook, he’s still on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube and surfs Reddit constantly. There’s no chance we’ll be giving it up anytime soon.
I think we’re very much headed for the stuff of Black Mirror, Feed, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World and other dystopian fiction. The real question is how do we stop? How do we change?
I honestly can’t answer that. If I have any crazy epiphanies, I’ll let you know.
“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 their eyes. Computers were all outside the 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.”
― M.T. Anderson, Feed
