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User Not Found
“Maybe it’s time to unleash my head from the scroll.”
Prompted by a sequence of discouraging internet encounters, Felicity Fenton attempts to free herself from the tendrils of an online world we know, but struggle to look away from. She evaluates the endless distractions of being tethered to her device and all that comes with it: email, spam, texting, taking pictures, and social media (aka “the walls”). In lyrical prose that swerves into dream-like mirage, hilarious thoughts, social observations, and unwavering sadness, User Not Found is a powerful essay that is all too relatable.
Prompted by a sequence of discouraging internet encounters, Felicity Fenton attempts to free herself from the tendrils of an online world we know, but struggle to look away from. She evaluates the endless distractions of being tethered to her device and all that comes with it: email, spam, texting, taking pictures, and social media (aka “the walls”). In lyrical prose that swerves into dream-like mirage, hilarious thoughts, social observations, and unwavering sadness, User Not Found is a powerful essay that is all too relatable.
32 pages, Pamphlet
First published November 29, 2018
1 person is currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Felicity Fenton
2 books10 followersFelicity Fenton’s (she/they) stories and essays have been featured in Fanzine, Split Lip Press, Wigleaf, The Iowa Review, The Denver Quarterly, Passages North, X-R-A-Y, Northwest Review, New Delta Review, Rooted Two: The Best New Arboreal Nonfiction, and others. Her book, 'User Not Found' was published by Future Tense Books in December, 2018. ‘Elegy For My Art Monster / Tumors Everywhere,’ co-written with Drew Burk, was published by Spork Press in the summer of 2022. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 14, 2018
The newest book coming soon in the Future Tense Scout Book series is a dazzler. Felicity has dug her nails deep into the weird squirmy guts of something almost everyone finds themselves affected by: How the internet, social media, her vibrating phone, and glowing computer screens alter our real-life attitudes about ourselves and the world around us. Her essay is specifically personal to herself but it reflects the struggles myself and so many others are having in this digital age. It's also surprising, poetic, funny, and nakedly honest. A small wonder of a book.
February 3, 2019
Wow oh wow oh wow oh wow.
This thing is special. In just 32 pages, Fenton packs a punch and makes a lasting impact for all those doomed to the incessant social media scroll. Never condescending. Always funny. USER NOT FOUND might be the most important book I've read in a while.
Get your time back. Buy this book.
This thing is special. In just 32 pages, Fenton packs a punch and makes a lasting impact for all those doomed to the incessant social media scroll. Never condescending. Always funny. USER NOT FOUND might be the most important book I've read in a while.
Get your time back. Buy this book.
April 8, 2019
In Felicity Fenton’s non-fiction essay, User Not Found, Fenton discusses how and why she decided to take a break from the internet. She starts the story by mentioning a comment that her daughter made about how scary she looks with her face lit up by the screen of her phone. Fenton follows by saying that someone online had removed her as a friend on social media and how she struggled to figure out why. She speaks on people’s need to post on social media and update people on what is going on in their lives. People do not talk to one another anymore, they like posts and make dull comments on social media statuses. Fenton struggles when she starts her social media detox. Her urge to pick up her phone and see what others are doing as well as if others have reached out to her is strong and she has to fight it. After some time, she gets used to not picking up her phone. She pets the cat at one point instead of checking her phone which an adorable anecdote. Fenton hopes that somewhere there are people who look out the window as they ride public transportation instead of checking their phones every few seconds. Fenton says that she still takes peeks at her phone every now and then, but she is not as concerned with what is happening online as she used to be. It seems like Fenton reached the goal she set for herself.
The way that Fenton refers to social media and life online as “the walls” works incredibly well in the essay. The walls are also the persona that people have created of themselves. Fenton touches on this at the beginning of her essay when she talks about people being who they paint themselves to be online. Calling social media “the walls” also seems to be a reference to the walls on Facebook where people post status updates. The double meaning of walls helps to get the point of dependency on social media across to readers.
A scene in the essay that stuck out to me the most is when Fenton is at a gallery opening for her work. She did not post anything about the gallery opening online, nor did she send any text messages or emails to people to notify them that the event was happening. The gallery posted about it on their social media pages, so the people who followed them knew about it. Fenton also told a few people in person about the opening but other than that, no one else knew about it. This is an interesting way to figure out who would come to something as important as a gallery opening. Most people get notifications about events going on through social media and that might be the only way that they know about them. Fenton shed some light on this aspect of social media and how reliant people are on it.
Another aspect of the essay that worked particularly well is the listing of “reasons why you shouldn’t be there.” Fenton lists article titles that can be found, most of which are negative, about social media. The article titles range from addiction to social media to why a person should delete their Facebook. The list of article titles is two pages long and they are practically screaming at the reader the more they read.
Usually, jumping around from idea to idea would be distracting, but that is not the case with Fenton. She manages to flow from one idea to the next without a hiccup. Each idea in some way connects to the previous as well as the ones before that so there is no confusion.
A note sent with the book said that Fenton did not intend for the essay to be a submission which is interesting considering how well the essay is written. In addition to the essay being well written, Fenton is more than relatable with the content. She lists the names of articles relating to social media but these articles, just by reading the titles of them, have nothing on how Fenton describes what it is like to be dependent on one’s electronic device. The readability of the book was better than expected as well. One would expect a thirty-page essay on dependency on one’s devices to drag on and be less than engaging. Surprisingly this was not the case and the reader gets more than they bargained for. Everyone should give this book a read if they own some type of electronic device.
The way that Fenton refers to social media and life online as “the walls” works incredibly well in the essay. The walls are also the persona that people have created of themselves. Fenton touches on this at the beginning of her essay when she talks about people being who they paint themselves to be online. Calling social media “the walls” also seems to be a reference to the walls on Facebook where people post status updates. The double meaning of walls helps to get the point of dependency on social media across to readers.
A scene in the essay that stuck out to me the most is when Fenton is at a gallery opening for her work. She did not post anything about the gallery opening online, nor did she send any text messages or emails to people to notify them that the event was happening. The gallery posted about it on their social media pages, so the people who followed them knew about it. Fenton also told a few people in person about the opening but other than that, no one else knew about it. This is an interesting way to figure out who would come to something as important as a gallery opening. Most people get notifications about events going on through social media and that might be the only way that they know about them. Fenton shed some light on this aspect of social media and how reliant people are on it.
Another aspect of the essay that worked particularly well is the listing of “reasons why you shouldn’t be there.” Fenton lists article titles that can be found, most of which are negative, about social media. The article titles range from addiction to social media to why a person should delete their Facebook. The list of article titles is two pages long and they are practically screaming at the reader the more they read.
Usually, jumping around from idea to idea would be distracting, but that is not the case with Fenton. She manages to flow from one idea to the next without a hiccup. Each idea in some way connects to the previous as well as the ones before that so there is no confusion.
A note sent with the book said that Fenton did not intend for the essay to be a submission which is interesting considering how well the essay is written. In addition to the essay being well written, Fenton is more than relatable with the content. She lists the names of articles relating to social media but these articles, just by reading the titles of them, have nothing on how Fenton describes what it is like to be dependent on one’s electronic device. The readability of the book was better than expected as well. One would expect a thirty-page essay on dependency on one’s devices to drag on and be less than engaging. Surprisingly this was not the case and the reader gets more than they bargained for. Everyone should give this book a read if they own some type of electronic device.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 10, 2019
"Are there still places in the world where people aren't compelled to dig into their phones every six-and-a-half minutes? Are there leathery men and women on fishing boats floating contentedly inside the sun's wallop and the sea's lap? Are there children who can ride buses where most of its passengers daydream out of windows with wondering eyes? I hope so." - User Not Found, Felicity Fenton
As a tried-and-true Xennial, born in the window between Gen X and millennials, I remember these analog worlds evoked in this passage from Felicity Fenton's slim monograph on living, loving, and creating in the age of digital distractions. I remember being genuinely bored, being forced to fill my time in every conceivable way. Of course, my childhood was also a cybernetic circus of video games, cartoons, reruns, sugary snacks, and processed foods. I've gone on to make my living working on the Internet, as well, so I relate to the struggles of the "endless scroll," as Fenton puts it, all too well.
There's been no shortage of alarmist texts on the evils of the Internet in recent years. We get it, our attention spans are diminishing, social media is being weaponized and used to deconstruct Democracy, and pretty much EVERYTHING's for sale, under the auspices of late-stage capitalism.
User Not Found's a remedy to so many of these social ills. First of all, it's an honest-to-goodness analog document, a little pocket-sized mini-book from Portland book imprint Future Tense books. It's perfect for pulling for the in-between moments, like riding that metaphorical bus mentioned up top. It's also a by-product of Felicity's digital detox, unplugging from social media and focusing on creating instead.
User Not Found speaks to so many of my current aspirations. First and most importantly, I aspire to spend more time creating and less time consuming. Secondly and just as importantly, I'm hoping to spend more time delving deeply into topics and ideas I'm passionate about, rather than reading 100 clickbait articles a day while my blood pressure gradually rises to a boil. Reading thoughtful texts like User Not Found helps me to feel more patient, more empathetic, kinder and more caring. It also inspires me to be more creative, and not in a hokey self-help way.
Felicity Fenton's use of language is sublime. She strikes the perfect balance between the cerebral and the tangible. You'll be able to feel the warm sun beat down upon your forehead, beading up in sweat. You'll be able to smell the sweet hay smell of Felicity's young daughter's hair. You'll feel the ache and cramp of tired muscles, pacing to and fro, riding bicycles, talking manicly with friends over chicken and asparagus.
User Not Found also brings back an era when Art and Artists existed much more underground and below the radar. We weren't always expected to brand and sell ourselves every moment we're awake, like some kind of skeezy used car salesperson. Once upon a time, we used to do things for no reason, just because it sounded fun or interesting or to kill that aforementioned boredom. Felicity Fenton inspires you to reclaim that feeling in your own life, to recall the feeling of living in an apartment with no furniture, eating off of thrift store flatware and stolen utensils. She reminds us of all of the youthful rebellions we've abandoned, while struggling to make ends meet.
More than anything, she reminds us it's not too late. When there's life, there's hope, as the saying goes.
Read a full review at Mastering Modernity: https://masteringmodernity.wordpress....
As a tried-and-true Xennial, born in the window between Gen X and millennials, I remember these analog worlds evoked in this passage from Felicity Fenton's slim monograph on living, loving, and creating in the age of digital distractions. I remember being genuinely bored, being forced to fill my time in every conceivable way. Of course, my childhood was also a cybernetic circus of video games, cartoons, reruns, sugary snacks, and processed foods. I've gone on to make my living working on the Internet, as well, so I relate to the struggles of the "endless scroll," as Fenton puts it, all too well.
There's been no shortage of alarmist texts on the evils of the Internet in recent years. We get it, our attention spans are diminishing, social media is being weaponized and used to deconstruct Democracy, and pretty much EVERYTHING's for sale, under the auspices of late-stage capitalism.
User Not Found's a remedy to so many of these social ills. First of all, it's an honest-to-goodness analog document, a little pocket-sized mini-book from Portland book imprint Future Tense books. It's perfect for pulling for the in-between moments, like riding that metaphorical bus mentioned up top. It's also a by-product of Felicity's digital detox, unplugging from social media and focusing on creating instead.
User Not Found speaks to so many of my current aspirations. First and most importantly, I aspire to spend more time creating and less time consuming. Secondly and just as importantly, I'm hoping to spend more time delving deeply into topics and ideas I'm passionate about, rather than reading 100 clickbait articles a day while my blood pressure gradually rises to a boil. Reading thoughtful texts like User Not Found helps me to feel more patient, more empathetic, kinder and more caring. It also inspires me to be more creative, and not in a hokey self-help way.
Felicity Fenton's use of language is sublime. She strikes the perfect balance between the cerebral and the tangible. You'll be able to feel the warm sun beat down upon your forehead, beading up in sweat. You'll be able to smell the sweet hay smell of Felicity's young daughter's hair. You'll feel the ache and cramp of tired muscles, pacing to and fro, riding bicycles, talking manicly with friends over chicken and asparagus.
User Not Found also brings back an era when Art and Artists existed much more underground and below the radar. We weren't always expected to brand and sell ourselves every moment we're awake, like some kind of skeezy used car salesperson. Once upon a time, we used to do things for no reason, just because it sounded fun or interesting or to kill that aforementioned boredom. Felicity Fenton inspires you to reclaim that feeling in your own life, to recall the feeling of living in an apartment with no furniture, eating off of thrift store flatware and stolen utensils. She reminds us of all of the youthful rebellions we've abandoned, while struggling to make ends meet.
More than anything, she reminds us it's not too late. When there's life, there's hope, as the saying goes.
Read a full review at Mastering Modernity: https://masteringmodernity.wordpress....
December 7, 2019
“Once the Internet was about excavation and discovery. Now we are lodged inside its intestines.” This essay by Felicity is a loose collection of musings about spending way too much time posting on and thinking about her Facebook wall — then going off social media and experiencing withdrawal and disconnectedness as well as connection and change. The ideas weren’t particularly new or groundbreaking but the portrayal of gradients of emotion felt real.
April 5, 2020
I loved this little book more than I can say, and I’m grateful to Felicity Fenton and Future Tense for capturing in paper and ink all the wonderful and terrible experiences of our collective “wall” addiction. Where you might expect dry criticism, the essay really conjures the experience of surfing social media platforms and painstakingly curating one’s digital persona. It’s as generous as it is critical, as personal as it is cultural, and for that, it feels above all honest and beautiful.
October 1, 2022
A refreshing essay!
I loved that Oliver connections with people we have not met online who comment on a post made by friends or post we made it so. Facebook? Twitter? or other social media? You can have conversations with someone when you can't sleep ? A nice exploration of digital friends and enemies and how they make us feel about ourselves and how we make ourselves feel better by phone addiction. A pithy monologue not to be missed.
I loved that Oliver connections with people we have not met online who comment on a post made by friends or post we made it so. Facebook? Twitter? or other social media? You can have conversations with someone when you can't sleep ? A nice exploration of digital friends and enemies and how they make us feel about ourselves and how we make ourselves feel better by phone addiction. A pithy monologue not to be missed.
May 31, 2019
Love the intimate size. I think I have had all these thoughts. But I haven’t had the interest/strength to do what the author did. Her pain is mine. I am (again again) determined to live longer without the walls. I wish for less cynicism (for myself, in life, and also here).
April 5, 2022
I loved this book so much. I finished it last night and today I'm thinking about deactivating/deleting/walking away from the walls.
August 14, 2024
A fun stream of continuous read, with thoughts we've all had. Glad I picked this up at Powell's.
(my only criticism is the small font the printer used, my eyes aren't what they used to be) 😀
(my only criticism is the small font the printer used, my eyes aren't what they used to be) 😀
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December 6, 2025shout out to the BPL and its zine collection
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews