Feed

The most significant symbol in the novel is the feed, which is the technological advancement that has changed the way the world functions. Although Feed was published before smartphones and social media became widespread and addictive, the feed represents the way technology can be used to push people into being complicit in the destruction of their own personal agency. For instance, in 2021, nearly two decades after the novel was published, a whistleblower who was formerly a data scientist at Facebook, revealed that the social media giant had created algorithms that maximized engagement at any cost. This includes targeting kids as users for addictive social media apps despite the knowledge that using Facebook and Instagram (which is also owned by Facebook) increases mental health issues, such as suicidal thought and eating disorders in children and teens, and even using their algorithm to exploit their mental illnesses and insecurities for the sake of increased engagement. Feed predicts this use of technology by depicting a technology that cultivates insecurities and an addiction to consumerism in users to push them to spend as much money as possible at the large corporations that endlessly advertise on the feed.

Feed amplifies the potential of technology as a means of manipulation by presenting a device that is implanted in the brain.