Meaning the Medium Is the Message

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.

Marshall McLuhan’s phrase is meant to convey the fact that it’s the medium itself that is important, not what the medium may produce. Anyone may have a piece of print in their hands, and it doesn’t matter what they’re actually reading, the fact they have a piece of print is important. The evolution of technology has allowed multiple mediums of communication to br brought into the world. These various mediums of communication; newspapers, phones, radio, televisions, and computers, are so important for the world.

Throughout the text, Carr occasionally references Marshall McLuhan’s ideology stating that, “The medium is the message” (Carr

Advances in technology has altered the world as we know it, and it can only progress farther. Through the minds of many intelligent and devoted individuals across time technology has developed into a twenty first century deity. A young child one hundred years ago could never envision a world like ours today, ruled by ones and zeros. The media has affected us in ways that we can’t even comprehend and will continue to steadily provide humans with a faster and faster flow of information for years to come. But what is the cost to have all of the information you can imagine at your fingertips? The exponential increase in information that we process in all forms of media is affecting the way that we live by making society more alienated.

1.) Of this week’s reading the articles, The Medium is the Metaphor the author and Media as epistemology by Neil Postman draw on the fact that present American culture is entirely devoted to entertainment and today’s media-metaphor shift has led much of our public discourse to become nonsense when it does not sever its sole purpose to entertain. Postman also went on to explain on what he means by the term epistemology with the help of some words from epistemology.

In Chapter six of Practices of Looking theorist Michael McLuhan stated during the 1960’s that “a medium is any extension of ourselves through a technological form”. He also believed that it is a way in which individuals extend their bodies in processes of communication, which despite him writing in the 1960’s is highly relevant in contemporary society. The chapter discusses how people rank modes of media in terms of importance. For instance, an article on Facebook or seen on a social networking platform may not be as highly regarded by the average viewer, as it can be perceived as not being credible. Yet, a newspaper article is often held in a higher esteem.

Neil Postman deeply believed that the medium inevitably gives off a strong hold on the messages that it communicates. A medium as Postman explains to the reader, is to technology as the mind is to the brain. In this sense technology is viewed as a mechanism. The medium is viewed as the social and intelligent world made by the mechanism. Postman argues that the formation of public discourse even if that form is mainly obtained through the technology of newspapers, books, etc. or electronically through television or the radio, will impact the ideas that we perceive and formulate daily.

Jenkins talks about how the consumption of media products is a collective process, in other words, the collective intelligence is seen as an alternative source of media power. He describes how within popular culture, the collective meaning making is shaping and changing the ways religion, education, laws, politics, advertising and how the military operate (4). Jenkins discusses a process called “convergence of modes”, he explains that media and communication are becoming interconnected like the telephone and television.

With the ability to access so much knowledge and communicate everything so easily through the internet, we don’t pay attention to the cause and effect that such things actually have on us as a society. That in itself is the “unintended consequence” of this medium -the internet. The article What is the Meaning of “The Medium is the Message” by Mark Federman suggests that there is a deeper meaning behind the message that we receive through the medium (the internet) and don’t realize the true meaning or real change that it has caused and will cause until it has already happened. Federman (2004) states that in McLuhan’s work he “Warns us that we are distracted by the content of a medium…and it is the character of the medium (the way it is presented

Marshall McLuhan, who was a Canadian communication theorist, was very much interested in technology and how it shapes the advanced modern society. His very famous theory was “the medium is the message” which means that the resource used or mode through which they are presenting shows the message, not really the content. This theory then leads to how technology is seen as an extension to human senses. McLuhan stated, “Media have powerful effects on societies. Moreover, media become extensions of ourselves; extensions of our human senses” (Laughey, 2010, p. 33). Just like the way our eyes see, our nose smell, our skin feels and our other senses have their function, McLuhan emphasis the fact that technology is the extension of our psychological, social and intellectual (inner) senses. In relation to Television as a technology, McLuhan would agree that technology is an extension to our human sense due to the fact that in recent days it is something that is used everyday. Humans use

Media has always been around. Traditionally there were two types of media that existed: print media and broadcast media. This was used to communicate information to the public. Politicians would use media to pass on their messages just as politicians present them. Many scholars argue media is far less important as we believe it to be. In this view, they believe media reflects society and societal changes but do not really shape them. While other scholars believe, that all contemporary politics is influenced in critical ways by the media; to these scholars, american elections are about “message”.

McLuhan does an outstanding job bringing in other credible and relevant sources, other than himself, to bring more credit to his arguments. As already mentioned, he uses Shakespeare to state the, “increasing awareness of the action of media” (McLuhan, 111). Being aware of the process is more important than being aware of the final result. When a student learns good study habits, the chances increase of receiving a better grade on the upcoming test. The student isn't worried about only performing well during the exam, but at the library learning the material that he or she is being tested on. McLuhan also goes into detail on how, “the paradox of mechanization is that although it is itself the cause of maximal growth and change, the principle of mechanization excludes the very possibility of growth or the understanding of change” (McLuhan, 110) It’s not expected to understand why these changes happen, just as it’s not expected to understand how the medium is the result of the message or the process. In this case, mechanization relates to the message as the “fragmentation of any process” (McLuhan, 110) relates to the

“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

Certain media theorists such as Sherry Turkle do an incredible job on studying these properties of technology and their bearing on us, but sometimes seem to dwell on the negative side of the analysis. In short some of these media theorists do astonishing work studying the impact socially that using and communicating through modern technology has, but then takes a negative stance due to their archaic understanding of what is capable with these technologies. We have come so far in the past years in advancing humanity and its natural predicaments while being heavily reliant on technology to communicate. Not noting that advancement is pessimistic and

No one can deny the fact that media is the most powerful tool of communication? Communication and interaction are the constitutive parts of everyday life. Our morning starts with the news that we get from morning newspaper, radio or television. Every generation the developer has a plan to improve media. In the modern world, people consider media as one of the most requirements that people can’t dispense from it. Media is everything, and the world seems to be nothing without it. It is difficult to imagine how people get to know some important news without newspapers, magazines, internet, and radio. Everybody a lot of methods helps him to collect the information. This paper is about defining types of media and their differences, defining the important role that media played, and determining the advantages of media.