In The Future of Us, Emma and Josh experience all sorts of chains and shackles, metaphorically speaking. High school is the culprit: Cool kids rule and everyone else drools, parents monitor their every move, and once they find out what their lives are doing to be like in the future, well, everything just feels that much more high stakes. Here's the thing, though: Despite all of this, Emma and Josh are totally in charge of their lives. So while they feel trapped by the future at points, ultimately they realize that they're the ones running the show. Yay.
Questions About Freedom and Confinement
- What are the different ways that Emma and Josh feel confined? What do they feel confined by?
- If you could see into the future, do you think it would be set, or do you think that you would be free to change things about it?
- Do you see Facebook (as we know it now) as confining? Why or why not? What ways does the book suggest social media frees us? How about limits us?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In this book, we're only as trapped as we let ourselves be.
We're all trapped by the future—whether we pay attention to this, though, is up to us.