Final Thoughts on Feed

I think we are getting closer to the Feed society all of the time. Nothing really seems to be stopping us because, as a culture, we believe that the good and convenience of the feeds outweigh the negatives. As an example, I have totally drunk the Google Kool-Aid, I know it, and I don't care! The dependence I have on my Internet connection and my social software tools is what leads to me to believe I'm headed down the path that leads to the Feed society.

Jon Stewart had a guest on last week that is trying to take a stand against the dehumanizing nature of our electronic dependence. Lee Siegel has written Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob. I definitely plan to check it out. I found it interesting that Mr. Siegel feels that there will ultimately be a backlash and a return to more focus on human interactions as a result of events like the MySpace suicide. I'm just not convinced.

I think the thing that struck me the most about Feed is how people had completely ceased to think for themselves. The didn't question anything the feed told them. Violet saw that Titus was not like everyone else, that he could still think and question. But Titus rebelled from those feelings because they made him different. I think one of the major responsibilities that school librarians, public librarians, and academic librarians have to is to make sure that patrons question the data they find, dig deep into the research, and to not be afraid of original thought.