Feed (2002) is a young adult dystopian novel of the cyberpunk subgenre written by M. T. Anderson. The novel focuses on issues such as corporate power, consumerism, information technology, data mining, and environmental decay, with a sometimes sardonic, sometimes somber tone. From the first-person perspective of a teen boy, the book takes place in a near-futuristic American culture completely dominated by advertising and corporate exploitation, corresponding to the enormous popularity of internetworking brain implants. Plot Context The novel portrays a near-future in which the feednet, a huge computer network (apparently an advanced form of the Internet), is directly connected to the brains of about 73% of American citizens by means of an implanted device called a feed. The feed allows people: to mentally access vast digital databases (individually called "sites"); to experience shareable virtual-reality phenomena (including entertainment programs, music, and even others' memories); to continually interact with intrusive corporations in a personal preference-based way; and to communicate telepathically on closed channels with others who also have feeds (a feature called m-chatting). The setting of the novel is depicted as ecologically devastated. Natural clouds have been replaced by trademarked Clouds™, implying artificialization, and many have their children custom-designed. The corporations responsible for the feed have immense power and even run the school system, which is now known as School™. Throughout the book, corporations appear to hold the true power in the United States, leaving the president virtually helpless as the Global Alliance, a coalition of other countries, begins contemplating war with the U.S., due to the worsening worldwide effects of American mismanagement of the environment. Synopsis Titus and his thrill-seeking teenaged friends meet teen girl Violet Durn, whose critically questioning attitude is completely new to the others. While at a club, a man from an anti-feed organization hacks all of their feeds. They wake up in a hospital to find, for the first time in most of their lives, that their feeds are unavailable: partially deactivated while under repair. During their recovery, Violet and Titus become sweethearts. Eventually, their feeds are repaired enough for them to return to Earth; however, Violet's feed is not completely fixed. One day, Violet reveals her idea of resisting the feed to Titus. She plans to show interest in a wide and random assortment of products to prevent the corporations that control the feed from developing a reliable consumer profile of her. The two go to