Direct Feed

When no one was going to pay for the public schools anymore and they were all like filled with guns and drugs and English teachers who were really pimps and stuff, some of the big media congloms got together and gave all this money and bought the schools so that all of them could have computers and pizza for lunch and stuff, which they gave for free, and now we do stuff in classes about how to work technology and how to find bargains and what's the best way to get a job and how to decorate our bedroom.

Titus, the narrator of MT Anderson's dystopian sci-fi YA novel Feed (Candlewick, 2002), is neurologically connected directly to consumerism-driven future version of the Internet. The feed looks up instantaneous answers to nearly every question he might ask, allows him a constant flow a chat with friends, and bombards him with target marketing ads. Titus doesn't read or write very well.

A number of things are disturbing about this book -  and good social satire should be disturbing. Teen expletive-infused language had not gotten any better in the 100 years or so in the future, and it is now also laced with advertising slogans. The kids don't talk about Coke, but always "the great taste of Coke." These are not rebellious teens. No fighting Big Brother for Titus and buddies. And Titus is not noble. As his girlfriend Violet become progressive less functional with her malfunctioning feed, he withdraws rather than comforts her. These kids act very much like today's kids - only more so.

People were really excited when they first came out with feeds. It was all da, da, da, this big educational thing, da, da, da, your child will have the advantage, encyclopedias at their fingertips, etc. That's one the great things about the feed - that you can be supersmart without ever working. Everyone is supersmart now, You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit.

This is not the world's best book, but it ought to be read by educational technology policy-makers. (I think I got the title from Jeff Utecht's blog. His wife made him read it as I remember.) The best science-fiction serves as a early warning system about a possible logical extension of today's trends. (See "Reading the Future.")

So don't say we haven't been warned.

I was staring at a girl's sweater. I couldn't like focus on the teacher. The teacher was a hologram that day. There had been some funding cuts. The school band was gone, and so were the alive teachers.

______________________________________

It's been a crazy week here on Lake Jefferson. Big family to-do early in the week to celebrate my son's graduation from college, along with th grandsons and those older people who always seem to come with them visiting. The implementation of the student information system (Infinite Campus), installation of 62 more "smart" classrooms, and one-on-one training of teachers getting new computers has kept the office busy. Off to Houston tomorrow afternoon to do a day of workshops on Tuesday and then back to work preparing for teachers returning in full force next week.

How can August look so far away in June?

The family August 2008 (minus my brother and his clan)

Comments

[Pam Burke]

We use Feed in our literature discussion groups in grades 7&8. It's an excellent choice for discussion because it brings up so many issues around technology & privacy. I love reading this book with teenagers! One of our students this year wrote an amazing autobiographical sketch of herself as a learner using Feed as inspiration - it was remarkable! This book really seems to resonate with that age group.

[Janet HasBrouck]

Yikes, streaming Wikipedia (the good, the bad, and the ugly) directly our feeds!?!

I agree, a great and disturbing book. I guess we should be careful we don't come across as anti-tech and web 2.0 when we try to use it as a cautionary tale to stimulate discussions.

[Tom Hoffman]

btw, have you read Little Brother by Cory Doctorow?

[Jeff Utecht]

Love that Pam is using the book in 7&8 grade. I would love to hear those discussions. I had mixed feeling about the book as well. A good read if you think and understand RSS and how if we wanted to we're not that far off from what the book imagines.

Would love to hear kids take on the book.....is this the future? Should this be the future?

[Jane Hyde]

Oh yeah, this is a fine and disturbing book. I almost chose it to sponsor for our summer reading, but then decided, having chosen last year Lewis Nordan's wonderful but too literary for the guys I had "Wolf Whistle, to do Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," more loved by girls but read by some boys as well, and an easy and fun read. But I'd still love to do "Feed" -- maybe next year, if I'm still around....

[Doug Johnson]

@ Thanks, Pam. Good to know.

Do parents ever object to the language in the book? It's been awhile since I've read YA, so I was sort of surprised. It fit the book, it just seemed strong to me.

All the best,

Doug

@Hi Jan,

I think we can be cautious without being "anti," don't you? I've long been a fan of things like the Alliance for Childhood's Fools Gold report which raises disturbing questions about the misuse of tech with kids.

Thanks for the comment!

Doug

@ Tom

No, but after reading the Amazon reviews and your recommendation it is definitely on my list.

Thanks!

Doug

@ Jeff

Yup. I'd like to hear those discussions as well.

If your lovely wife had any more book suggestions, pass them on!

All the best,

Doug

@ Hi Jane,

I'll ask the same question of you I asked Pam - is the language too strong to be used as a common reading book? Am I just getting to be an old fuddy duddy? (Wait, don't answer the second question.)

All the best,

Doug

[Sara Kelly Johns]

Here's an article to accompany Feed: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google
"Is Google making us Stupid?" from the July/August Atlantic magazine. We read differently but what will be the shift from the changes this type of reading makes to our brains?

[Doug Johnson]

Thanks, Sara. I liked this article as well.

The other book I think of when it comes to a "postliterate" society is Futureland, by Walter Mosley of Easy Rawlings mystery fame.

Interesting times!

Doug