Feed

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What is an example of a piece of new, computer-based technology that you use frequently? How does it make your life better or easier?  How would it create problems for you if you suddenly lost it? If you could buy any existing technology, what would you choose and why?

Teaching Suggestion: Like the characters in the novel, many people are reliant on commonly used computer technology for communication, research, news, and entertainment. Reflecting on the ways they are reliant can help students to relate to the way Titus and his friends have adapted and become addicted to the feed. Additionally, students should consider the way technological advancements are driven by consumerism, always pushing people to spend money on the next new thing. This question addresses the theme The Corrupting Force of Technology.

• In “Measuring Smartphone Dependency and Exploration of Consequences and Comorbidities,” researchers examine some of the mental and physical health problems that arise as a result of reliance on smartphones.
• “Facebook Whistleblower Revealed, Says Social Network ‘Chooses Profit Over Safety,’” published in PC Magazine, discusses the 2021 revelations by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen and the ways the social media site causes harm and spreads misinformation for the sake of profit, much like the corporations in Feed.

2. What are some of the common fears that surround the adoption of popular technologies? What concerns do you think are important to consider, and what action might you take as an individual to play a part in alleviating those concerns?

Teaching Suggestion: The anxieties about technology that Feed addresses have become even more relevant. At the time the book was published in 2002, fears had arisen surrounding technology after the Y2K crisis and the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. Understanding the original cultural context of the novel can help students to connect it to contemporary issues and concerns. Students might discuss their reliance upon and attachment to the technology they use often and consider the way they feel when they lose access to that technology. It might also help them prepare to read the novel to consider the environmental impact of constantly making and upgrading technology.

• This article in Forbes, "Apocalypse Then: When Y2K Didn't Lead to the End of Civilization" offers a useful introduction to the Y2K crisis and the panic it induced about technology’s role in society.
• Discovery Magazine introduces the concept of technophobia and places it in a historical context in "There's More to Technophobia Than the Fear of Technology," which can help students to understand the anxieties underneath the dystopia in the novel.
• "Negative Impact of Technology on the Environment" concisely explains how the creation and manufacturing of new technologies that are constantly replaced by newer ones has been and continues to be ecologically harmful.

Short Activity

In Feed, the characters are conditioned to spend money constantly because they are never satisfied with their purchases. Working in small groups of 3-5, complete this short activity:

• Identify an existing product (commercially available or not) that you believe would improve your life and make you happier.
• If possible, briefly research the product choices made in your small group.  
• Take turns with group members to propose and defend your choice to rest of the group.
• Groupmates will counter each proposal with the reasons others’ products fall short or may cause harm. Consider, for example, the element of addiction: Might consumers become addicted to the use of the product? How might this be detrimental to the user?
• All group members should take notes during the activity to track discussion.
• At the conclusion of group members’ proposals and counterarguments, compose a summary paragraph that accounts for each proposed product. Using your notes as reference, mention at least one pro and con for each product. Conclude your paragraph by re-evaluating your own product: How does it compare to the other mentioned products? Does its use still appeal to you? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: Within the world of the novel, the technology of the feed is integrated into the user’s brain and intimately connected with their thought processes, senses, and emotions. It is inherently connected to their biology and cannot be removed or disconnected from the corporations’ algorithms. This activity connects to the theme Consumerism as an Addiction and can help students to consider the way a product might be marketed to consumers under the insistence that it is necessary for personal fulfillment or that it will make them smarter, better, or more efficient people. In lieu of the concluding summary paragraph, students might conduct a wrap-up discussion and share product ideas with the larger group, then have a class vote for the most and/or least helpful product.

• “Half of Millennials Say Social Media Drives Them to Spend Money They Don’t Have” is an investigative article that explores how social media can influence people’s consumer habits.
• This excerpt from the release of a Tesla pickup truck, “Elon Musk Fails in All 'Bulletproof' Cybertruck Reveal at Live Launch in LA,” shows how products can be glorified through advertising and then fail to live up to its promises.
• This article, “In a Society Addicted to Consumerism, a Movement of Anti-consumers,” offers a perspective more in line with Violet’s view in the novel; it discusses some problematic aspects of consumerism and how some people have attempted to find fulfillment in things outside of material goods.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who express themselves better in writing or struggle to communicate or focus in group settings, each group member might write out their talking points before proposing the product. The group can then compile all talking points as a shared resource by posting or passing them for use in notetaking or writing the summary paragraph.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

A “dystopia” is a fictional world in which authors imagine how systems and social problems might progress if unchecked and cause the eventual ruination of society. How do you imagine society might become a dystopia? What issues or systems do you think could lead to the destruction of society? What do you think that might look like in a hundred years?  

Teaching Suggestion: This question allows students to connect personally to the novel by imagining their own worst scenario, and it pushes them to consider the way problems that don’t seem very serious can snowball and have catastrophic effects. One way to approach this is to talk about the environment, how pollution and waste have caused ecological damage, and what experts predict in terms of future fallout. This is relevant to the novel since one of the major underlying issues in the world is the destruction of the planet.

• For a more complete definition of “dystopia,” see SuperSummary’s glossary of Literary Elements and Devices.
• “How to Recognize a Dystopia” is a video from TedEd that explains the genre of dystopian fiction.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students might respond creatively by drawing, making videos, or writing poems or skits. This strategy may work well for younger students, English learners, or for those who respond better to creative or visual assignments. Encourage students to include titles, captions, or summaries to their projects.