Throughout The Circle, Eggers examines how living an increasingly digital life alienates people from their humanity. This is most clearly illustrated through Mae’s trajectory in the novel. In the beginning, she is excited about her new job at The Circle but still very connected to her real life. She leaves campus each weekend and partakes in wholesome activities like visiting her parents and kayaking. On the bay, she relishes in the natural beauty around her and has one of the few moments of authentic connection in the novel when she encounters the harbor seals. As such, Mae goes through a reverse coming-of-age journey in the novel, where she is her most authentic and human self in the early chapters.

Hints of technology’s capacity to disconnect people from their real lives emerge after Mae’s first weeks at The Circle. A stark example is when she is reprimanded for leaving campus for the weekend rather than participating in campus activities; essentially, the expectation is that Circlers work seven days a week, not five. This flattens their multifaceted identities, giving them fewer chances to interact with the world outside The Circle. When Mae explains that she was visiting her sick father, her superior insists that rather than spending her time with him, she should be attending MS support groups on campus.