Us and Them is a story written by David Sedaris regarding his experiences with a family he grew up during his childhood known as the Tomkeys. The Tomkeys were the main subject of the story as the narrator is reflecting on his time spent observing the Tomkeys. The main reason for this was the fact that the Tomkeys did not own a television which was a sign of interest for the narrator as a child. The narrator, David Sedaris, stated “I attributed their behavior to the fact that they didn’t have a TV, but television didn’t teach you everything” (1). I personally thought that the story was rather interesting in regards to concept of uniqueness and variance within society. The concept of a TV was so common in society at the time of writing that the narrator thought that not having one was reason enough to be called strange. This story was interesting as well in regards to how the TV can affect the social dynamic of a family and even in school. Sedaris stated, “Because they had no TV, the Tomkeys were forced to talk during dinner. They had no idea how puny their lives were, and so they were not ashamed that a camera would have found them uninteresting” (1). With this statement Sedaris believes that the TV was negatively affected the family dynamic and causing the concept of talking to each other to be obsolete, which I believe to be the main message of the story. I personally have noticed the concept of technology affected the social life of me and my friends. At times when I am with my family we never talk to each other and instead focus our attention on watching Netflix or being on our phones. I feel that this concept of technology affecting social dynamics is extremely relevant, especially as time goes on and technology becomes increasingly more advanced. My view of technology and its relevance in society is not changed, without modern technology life would certainly be much more difficult, but yet, I still do feel that technology has unforeseen impacts on our life such as the social impact of technology. The reason though why this is not so relevant because it appears that the impact of technology in this manner is subtle compared to other impacts. This is one thing that Sedaris highlights that I really enjoy about Us and Them, he makes the message of the story rather subtle and forces the reader to read through it a couple times to understand the full scope of the story. He uses subtle nuances to project his message yet does it in a way that forces the reader to think about his message. However, this is a blessing and a curse, as I feel that someone who does not pick up on the message of the story will feel confused and unaware of what Sedaris is trying to say, which is obviously not the goal for any writer. Regardless, I personally enjoy the story and understand what Sedaris portrays through it.