MT Anderson's feed offers poignant critiques of technology and its apparent benefits. In a futuristic dystopia, seventy percent of humanity is immersed in the “feed,” a high-tech device that essentially serves as a telephone and computer. Through this device people can receive word suggestions, read a dictionary and contact each other via m-chat (mental chat). While this technology seems extremely useful, the main character Titus and his friends use the feed as a crutch as they have lost the ability to speak articulately. The word-suggestion aspect of the feed and high-tech society has put a strain on their verbal skills, as seen in the excessive use of jargon and email-format thinking. This shift in traditional communication has a serious effect on traditional human interaction as most people no longer talk to each other but rather choose to communicate via their feeds even when they are next to each other. These ramifications due to technology intended to improve and facilitate life show how as technology evolves, the more humans evolve and lose the ability to communicate and therefore lose an important aspect of human life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One consequence of Feed humans having technology from birth is that they lose the ability to speak well and articulate their thoughts without help. Titus constantly requires help from his feed to find the words he means and struggles to think clearly, like when he couldn't think of the word "slide," "we were playing ball for a while, and we were twirling all over the place." the place, and we were like, what do you call it when you actually skim the surface of something, we were like this on the floor, with our arms outstretched” (Anderson 15). This problem appears throughout the novel in both simplistic and advanced vocabulary, such as when he tries to describe Violet's appearance: “I didn't know the word. His spine was like…? The feed suggested 'flexible'” (14). This lack of basic knowledge of the language is further revealed in Titus and his friend's inability to understand more advanced vocabulary without a dictionary: "You put the 'dinner' back in 'suppuration'... he had no idea what the hell was” talking about both…the rest of us were…looking up “suppuration” in the English-English dictionary” (33). This reliance on the feed to understand language – a fundamental human function – shows the decentralization of human memory, knowledge and intelligence as humanity can no longer clearly articulate their thoughts or understand each other without assistance. Instead of using traditional language to communicate, then, Titus and his friends simplify the language into slang, technology-derived language, and consistent use of the word “thing” to describe the world around them. They shorten words like low gravity to “lo-grav” and use swear words to fill in what they don't know. Even adults fall prey to this type of language, seen by Titus' father unable to clearly describe its meaning, "she's like, whoa, she's so stressed. This is... man," he said. “Man, this is some real bad shit” (103). Titus and his friends commonly use the word "thing" when they can't think of the correct descriptive word, "You broke a... a thing," Marty said. “You interrupted a fucking thing” (55). In addition to Titus and his teenage companions, professional adults also have this degraded understanding and knowledge.
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