General

Hi,
I am wondering how technology, especially Internet changed the feederism world. I am mainly interested in the following aspects
1. Communication: since the internet can connect people from all over the world, in theory it should be easier to find likeminded people. However I think that all information about feederism is so scattered that the impact, even though the potential is huge is really scarce.
2. Deliveries: now we have Uber Eats, Just Eat or Doordash if you're in the US. Does it help the lifestyle? I think yes. Even those 20 years ago you had to physically go to a restaurant or at best call. Now it seems to be much easier.
3. What else can we do? How can we tap in the endless world of technology to help our little feederism planet?

#1. Communication

This is probably why feederism is even really a thing at all. Could you imagine ever trying to bring it up with someone in public? Especially in the 90s and before when the social pressure to be skinny was much more intense?

I would have been absolutely terrified.

Hell, when I was in high school, I was absolutely terrified that anyone might find out that at the time, that I thought this girl who was maybe 5'3" and probably weighed something like 160 lbs was actually attractive, or that I might have liked it if she got bigger.

I had to quietly suffer and I hated it.

It was almost nothing short of a miracle that images of SexyMic were posted at all in the 90s, or that someone started Dimensions back then.

There were adult magazines that focused on heavy women even in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but I don't know how many of them talked about feederism related topics. And I don't suppose there was much in terms of ways for readers to be able to talk to one another.

#2. Deliveries

I disagree on this point. Same-day deliveries of takeout food is frighteningly expensive, costing at least double what it otherwise would have.

Drive-through lines by contrast, have been around for decades.

Also, same-day delivery of takeout food and retail products is not a new concept. If you really wanted to, you could call a taxi service to do this. The cost would be the fare, wait time (while the driver buys the stuff), tip, and the cost of the goods. I know this because my father was a taxi driver for a short time in the 70s. It was stupid expensive then, like it is now. Many of his deliveries were to heavily alcoholic day drinkers.

#3. Other things

I really wouldn't know. Small drone deliveries had potential to be cheap, but is not practical for many reasons. It has to be a relatively densely populated area that's not close to an airport. Even then, trials of such services have always required a human remote pilot on standby, substantially increasing cost. So I don't think that's happening.

Also, despite what anyone says, we're a very long way off from fully automatic motor vehicles, so any dreams of a fully automatic food truck with robots inside that can prepare food en-route? I don't think that's happening for decades.

BYD claims they will soon release a humanoid robot that's capable of doing a number of things, including certain basic household tasks like most cleaning and even cooking. But this seems extremely ambitious, and I expect this will be delayed by years if it's coming at all.

You are forgetting a major one, information. Technology allows us to know calories of foods easier, and which foods has them. All in our pocket, anytime we want.

this is a really interesting topic, i think!

technology is huge - i was a fat admirer (or chubby chaser) before i'd discovered the internet, but i don't know if i even had that terminology to apply to it... it wasn't until i got online that i discovered, holy cow, there are other people interested in this kind of thing! and back then (late 1990s) it was still a very closeted thing. so the interent and communication via social media did a *lot* to connect me to "my people," but it also ramped up the size acceptance movement. now all kinds of people of size are flaunting what they got on tiktok!

i don't think deliveries are a huge factor. i think the change in the content of food has made a much larger impact. not just delivery, but the proliferations of pre-packaged, prepared foods. even when i think back to college, the cafeteria made real food. now those places are just performing an elaborate re-heating exercise in many cases. so i think this change in the actual material of what we're eating has had a very large impact, and why obesity has been on the rise (amongst non-feedists as well!).

geekymngirl's note about information & data is really interesting. a couple of years ago i got an app to track my calories to see how much i was eating, and how it related to my weight. it was a really interesting experience, because it was allowing me to turn my habits into data - something that wasn't really possible before with such precision, before the existence of online databases with all of this info, and a way to conveniently track it. i was surprised to find i was eating over 6,000 calories a day even without stuffing myself at that time!

the tech we need in the near future is one of those hover-belt things that baron harkonnen from the dune books uses, to increase our mobility and allow us to grow even larger.

The point about it being easier than ever to find out how many calories certain foods have, or whatever else is a good one.

I can't speak for other countries, though I do know in the U.S., I think around 15 years ago all the major chain restaurants above a certain size (not sure if it's based on sales or employee count) are required to post calorie estimates on the menus.

I'm sure there's a similar thing in Canada, the UK, most of Europe these days.

Of course, the stated goal was to help folks to choose lower calorie options. But I actually like the convenience of the number being there to know what has more calories.

I also like how the customization option can also often let you see in real time what the impact on calories is. Choosing a different type of bread, or adding mayonnaise. Oftentimes, I see that adding mayonnaise on a sandwich can add an estimated 50-100 calories, and that's just one example.