Parents' Guide to

The Feed

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Uneven dystopian tech thriller has sex, violence, language.

TV Amazon Prime Video Science Fiction 2019
The Feed Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

Based on the psychological thriller by Nick Clark Windo of the same title, THE FEED is a British dystopian series that underscores the potential dangers of future social media technology. Meredith and Ben Hatfield (Michelle Fairley and David Thewlis) are founders of the Feed, a company that has created and sells a brain implant that allows people to immediately connect and share thoughts and emotions. It also allows users to create virtual realities on an impenetrable global information network using neural commands. While their son Ben (Jeremy Neumark Jones) works with the company, their other son Tom (Guy Burnet), a psychologist who specializes in helping people with Feed addiction, attempts to keep his distance from the family and its business, especially after marrying his wife, Kate (Nina Toussaint-White). But when the powerful technology gets hacked, its users start killing people, and the Hatfields are torn further apart as they attempt to figure out who is responsible for the breach and how to stop it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

The uneven series attempts to combine sci-fi thrills with family drama as it reveals a frightening world that could exist in the not-too-distant future. It underscores the dangers that come with allowing companies to control powerful information networking technology, but it doesn't delve into the larger political, social, and economic implications of universal access to this technology. Meanwhile, much of the series concentrates on the Hatfields' long-standing dysfunctional family relationships, only some of which are driven by the ethical conundrums created by their business. If you like dystopian stories, The Feed is entertaining enough, but it isn't thoughtful enough to have lasting impact.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what it would be like to access a social network just using your brain. What do you think some of the benefits would be? What about negative consequences?

  • The Feed looks at the problems associated with owning and selling advanced networking technology to millions of people. But what other problems can result from people having easy neural access to other people's thoughts and experiences?

  • Compare The Feed to other dystopian tech shows, like Black Mirror and Westworld. What are some of the common themes found in this genre?

TV Details

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