Speaking as a young adult living in the modern era of the 2000's, life seems to be going greater than expected. As a comparison to older generations, there are so many things that benefit us now than it did back in their time period. We have a whole lot more freedom, better education, less prejudice, more security, amazing reasons to live, and most importantly, our technology. Our technology has advanced so much to the point where it surrounds us everywhere we go. The biggest selling point of advanced technology is how we feel more connected.
Feel is a very important word in my epiphany because as I was standing there looking at my phone for hours, I felt more connected with everyone and everything going on in the world. Once I looked up and realized how much I missed out on, I realized how lonely I really was.
In the novel The Feed by M.T Anderson, this technological advancement is multiplied one hundred times over. The Feed (aka the internet) is implanted in everyone's brain allowing everyone to view the internet everywhere they go 24/7. Similar to our current generation, the teenagers of The Feed are expected to be more connected with each other due to this implantation. However this is not the case.
People who praise technological advances with no sense of negativity behind it would say they live in a thriving time. A Utopian society even. However, the first line of the novel perfectly demonstrates technologies biggest flaw towards society.
“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck” (Anderson 3)
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| (My two best friends enjoying life at the bridge even though we only live 15 min from it) |
When I first read this line by the main character Titus, I called it a bunch of BS. I couldn't help but visualize my boys and I taking a spontaneous trip to anywhere but home, let alone the moon, and have an amazing time regardless of the situation (see image). I came up with the thought of "Maybe they are the stereotypical teenager who is always bored at everything cliche," but in all seriousness, the novel wouldn't give it to us that easily. So, I read more into it.
Titus and his friends proceeded to travel to the moon. What began to ruin it for them was not only the annoyance of each other but also the bombardment of notifications and interaction coming from The Feed. It suddenly became a distraction and also the ease of just going to the moon lowered their expectations tremendously to where something as spectacular as the moon became "eh" to them. In a way they were easily desensitized.
After reading this section of the novel and discussing it in my college literature class, I began to compare it to the times today. This is when I reached my epiphany and conclusion.
Although more extreme, Titus and his friends easily represent us and our own generation. The concept of feeling connected but missing out on so much of the world around you is exactly what Titus, as well as our generation, is facing today.
To understand this better, have you ever hung out with someone and eventually find yourself reaching into your phone to give it a look while your friend is talking? In many cases you find yourself looking at your phone longer than you should have. Within that time you looked at your phone and put it away, you could have easily engaged better in the conversation or build your relationship better. You easily miss out on what the person says or you take it with a grain of salt.
I can't say I'm not guilty here but we can all admit to being in this scenario multiple times.
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| (Again guilty but was this necessary?) |
To future demonstrate, when was the last time you went somewhere exciting and didn't take your phone out to take a picture for Instagram or snapchat it? Again being guilty of this scenario, most of us do this and it easily draws away from experiencing whats right in front of you. We automatically associate it with showing other people rather than taking in the moment for yourself. Kinda like how Titus and his friends were desensitized to the moon. Something of great value suddenly becomes less important as an experience (of course to an extreme, but still the same concept)
On top of everything, this novel also represents the concept of distopia. By reading my blog, its safe to assume I, as well as many others, see The Feed and our own technological society as a distopia. This assumption is wrong
For years, it has been a peeve of mine when people misconstrue the concept of Utopia. The idea of a Utopia is an opinionated subject that is highly dependent on the individual rather than the whole population. In other words, you can not create a single utopia for a population, but you can make a utopia in your own world.
A religious friend once told me about his belief that when you die, you create your own heaven. Heaven to many people is seen as this singular Utopian space where everything is right and you can live in peace for all eternity. However, this is currently proven to be impossible by the many failed attempts of creating a perfect singular utopia for a whole population. What makes more sense is you creating your own Utopia (heaven) within your last seconds of your consciousness and staying in that utopia forever.
Religious talk aside, this same principal can be applied to yourself. You have the choice to create a Utopia or Distopia in your own world. You have the choice to live in the mindset similar to Titus and his friends where you're surrounded by technology, disconnected and desensitized from the real world around you. Or you can choose to see the greatness in everything around you. Surround yourself with technology and see/appreciate everything it does for you, and still view the world around as great as it can be.
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Works Cited:
The Feed by M.T. Anderson
Liam R.
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