Marshalluhan Understanding Media

Technology has always been popular, but it has come to the point in our society where it can consume too much of our time, like it had in Montag’s society. Nowadays, we seem to always be in touch with technology one way or another. Even when we do not encounter it, we are probably using technology to help us somehow, like how it has become second nature for people to check the time just by turning on their phone. However, the problem might not be the technology itself but how often we use it. In Montag’s society, the problem was not the televisions themselves, but how the televisions consumed each citizen’s life. The people in the society became increasingly disinterested in having meaningful conversations with each other, and when they were not at work or school they were watching television. They were

Technology, the advancement of knowledge and productivity through the application of tools, information, and techniques to create an effortless process, has ultimately lead to the declination of our society and our future. In “A Thing Like Me,” Nicholas Carr addresses the development of technology from the day it was created and how it initiated an immediate impact within the lives of humans leading to an unhealthy dependency. Carr establishes how technology, what was intended to be a tool, has become the “pacifier” of our generation. This “pacifier” causes a loss of freedom, not through the laws of the government, but rather with the values of freedom one holds within themselves. This freedom is the individuality that distinguishes each person from the next, and forms a desire for the development of oneself through the experiences of life and the wisdom that is acquired along the way. Technology has blinded man from this pursuit of self-enhancement and with the advancement of technology occurring daily, there is no resolution. Each day people are confined within themselves and the pieces of technology that will continually limit them in their lives. Freedom is more than just a concept of laws instilled by the government, it is the thought process found within each individual person and their “hunger” to become more. With technology, social media was created and immediately immersed within our lives. The society of today has

In his article, “What are People For”, Wendell Berry muses that technological progress serves no purpose in the grand scheme of things, cynically notes that the “higher aims of ‘technological progress’ are money and ease”. By condoning this materialistic outlook of life that afflicts society with a “cultish faith in the future”, Berry urges his audience to consider taking part in a community that appreciates life in the present. Berry heralds truth in his argument that technological advancement, even ones made with good intentions, inevitably contaminates society because it enables twisted misuse of power and serves to strain human relationships.

While negotiating the brief I had to deliberate on the intended audience, the purpose and the genre markers inherent in my trailer. The trailer will be set in a haunted asylum, three film students will investigate the mental hospital to dismiss the rumours in a documentary format, it of course turns out the rumours are true and the trio need to try and escape the asylum with their lifes still intact. I chose the unisex young adult market for my trailer, persons aged 15 to 25. I also had to decide on what genre markers would be present in my trailer. The trailer is of course an advertisement and it's main purpose is to get the viewers to go and see the full release of the film in cinemas.

It is a well-known fact that technology and media outlets today play a major role in a person’s life. Generally, a person has access to the media through cellphones, computers, radios in a car and television. It may be perceived by some, even within a technologically advanced society such as America, that media has no effect upon enhancing cultural relationships, though many social networks do indeed connect cultures.

In this day and age, television is seen as the most useful technology in the world where we get enough information, entertainment and knowledge. People believe that it is more preferable to have a television rather than to watch a live play in the theatre due to the freedom of relaxation and high level of participation. In this essay, Marshall McLuhan’s technology is the extension of human senses along with Walter Benjamin’s reproduction of art would be analyzed. The main of this essay is to analyze two theoretical concepts and compare them to one another in relation to television and also how these two theoretical concepts would approach television as a technology.

At what point will society place a dependence upon technological advancements rather than the curiosity and interactions of mankind? With the constant acceleration of improvements within technology and any piece of information readily available many authors, artists, and individuals question the natural world as each generation more elaborately explores the innovative approaches towards science and technology. E.M. Forster’s short story, “The Machine Stops,” is based upon a fear of the technological revolution, and it introduces the audience to a utopian society facing multiple forms of isolation as a result of his society reaching complete dependence upon the technology of the Machine. The society’s reliance upon the Machine creates a divide between those who display an adoration and worship towards the Machine versus citizens who prevail and fight for their individual freedom. E.M. Forster illustrates the role he foresees technology to play in the end of human civilization through an exaggerated vision of the effects that technology leaves on our lives, which helps the audience to better understand our present day society properly.

In order to test these suppositions, the researchers undertook several room cultures studies to examine, monitor and evaluate adolescent media consumption habits. This resulted in the following model, which conceptualizes the three most significant dimensions of mass media uses and effects.3

Marshall McLuhen published Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man in 1964. This writing served as the basis of Carr's ideas. Technology, as it is today, is changing our brains. The Shallows explores the debate over the powers and perils of modern technology.

Humanity has far surpassed anything that was seen as impossible. However, as society progressed did we get distracted on the way? Did we seem to lose track of the important things that mattered in our lives? In the mid-1980s Neil Postman wrote a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death which talks about how technology and media has reshaped our culture and he makes predictions on how it will shape our future. The purpose of this paper is to update Postman's perspective to the present. Throughout the last chapter of the book Postman talks about how technology has distracted us, and how it has changed our social lives. This paper will provide information on how Postman's perspective examples connect to society today, and how many of us are influenced by it without even noticing it.

1985 brought a collective sigh of relief to my high school graduating class. We read Orwell’s 1984 in 9th grade English; resulting in fear of the immediate future and suspicion toward anything smacking of governmental control. Reaching our graduation in May 1985, as independent American citizens free of Big Brother (or so we thought), gave some of us a sense that we had “beat the system”, as Gen-Xers are wont to claim. I wonder how many of my classmates would have agreed with what Neil Postman asserted that same year in Amusing Ourselves to Death: TV had ushered in a cultural shift in public discourse, leading to our willing oppression by entertainment.

Technological determinism is a term developed by Marshal McLuhan, a theorist in the study of new media. By technological determinism, McLuhan refers to technology having the power to change societies and influence our cultures. In this essay I will argue that technology does have the power to change society and influence a civilization, using ideas put forward by Marshal McLuhan. I will also discuss the debate around technological determinism recognizing the claims made by Raymond Williams that society shapes technology as we look back at its emergence and their subsequent control.

As asked by the English alternative rock band Muse in their famous song “Screenager,” “Who’s so phoney and always surrounded?” This song perfectly depicts the effects of technology on America. People are engulfed by different types of technology everywhere they go and even carry around technology such as phones, laptops, and iPods. These items may seem like a blessing, but they are potentially dividing America. Every day, eight to eighteen-year-olds watch four and a half hours of TV, listen to two and a half hours of music, use the computer for an hour and a half, and spend two and a half hours on their cell phones, two hours for texting and one half hour for talking. This adds up to eleven hours dedicated on the media per day (Crawford).

“The medium is the message,” uttered by the late media scholar and theorist Marshall McLuhan, and they have been revered and dissected ever since they were spoken. There has been several different interpretations on the premise of McLuhan’s words, and the meaning behind them. The best way to start unraveling his theory, is to get a general understanding of the terms used in his famous quote. In McLuhan’s own words, a medium is simply “an extension of ourselves.” Simply put the medium personifies or enhances what we as humans cannot do on our own. In a mass media perspective this means the use of technology including radio, television, and the Internet to project our thoughts, feelings, and senses (Frederman) . Finally, it is important to

JL MC 477 has influenced my thoughts and perspectives of how the media represents diverse cultures, ethnicities, social classes, and even gender. This course has helped me clarify how and why the media identifies each group with their own stereotype or portrayal. Before the course, I had a general idea of what the media portrayed specific groups as, but now I am able to understand deeper because this course enhanced my thinking and analysis of each one. I have become aware that many of the portrayals of these groups from the media reflect reality.