Media Is the Message

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

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.

When Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message” back in 1967, we were facing a very different society than we are today. His focus was of course on the mediums of the time: radio, newsprint and television. Mark Federman, a Chief Strategist for the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology asserts in his article, What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message? (2004), McLuhan was not speaking directly about the medium itself. His thought process went to a deeper level. Federman “note[s] that it is not the content or use of innovation, but the change in inter-personal dynamics that the innovation brings with it” that is the issue. In a world that we can now access hundreds of thousands of bits of information in milliseconds, we can certainly see a shift in media influence. Today we can actually watch events as they unfold, whether they are events for a greater good or events of horrific acts of terrorism, technology has enabled society to be omnipresent. Melody Thompson (2011) refers to Jaron Lanier in discussing how technology shapes our relationship to itself. She notes that Lanier believes technology imposes on us its own viewpoint and that shapes our decisions. In a world where we live with a 24 hour news cycle and news stations that can skew their reporting to send the message they want their viewers to hear, it is quite prophetic when Lanier states “it

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.

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.

For McLuhan “the medium [the bucket, the icy water] is the message [and]…All media works us over completely” (pg. 327).I agree in saying that the medium is important. However, “since people don’t always see things the same way” (pg. 329) the medium largely depend on your audience. A bucket of icy water might reach

McLuhan’s claim that “The Medium is the Message” signifies that the approach of a transmitted message does matter. The reason as to why is that it affects how it is obtained by recipients which can manipulate their overall perception. This dominant form of communication also influences the substance in modifying how we interact and behave alongside our values and norms. These effects happen to stem from numerous definitions of media and its content for users such as hot (filled with information lacking in participation to think and active engagement furthering passive behavior) and cold (short of data requiring mental activity to be involved) media. Ultimately, this assertion pinpoints the role of media ecology in that mass media is the sole foundation of cultural life in society.

In the television profile “This is Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Massage,” Allan Kaprow says “[McLuhan’s] talking about goggles…Everybody has a set of goggles… yours is a private idiosyncratic set of goggles and suppose that the generation before has a different set of goggles and you both think you are looking at the same thing and you are not” (12:12). This is an interesting point as it further complicates McLuhan’s arguments not only is the way a person receives information (the medium) going to impact (massage) the person, but the lenses or goggles the person has is going to impact the way the person is massaged by the medium as well. Perhaps it is the cumulative experience with the medium that plays a role in determining how the person perceives the message of the medium and how that message will impact upon them, as Postman’s son suggests in his introduction to his father’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, in which Postman claims that current college students struggle to criticize modern technology and mediums because they grew up with them and thus influenced the formation of their

Marshall McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message.” I don’t believe that the media of production is indistinguishable to the message because the content still exists as a separate entity to that of its form, however I agree to some extent with McLuhan’s proposed idea that the medium is of equal importance to the message being communicated.

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.

“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

The Role of Media in the Society Media has always played a huge role in our society. For a long time media was one of the methods of controlling people and leisure. In ancient times when there was no newspapers and television, people used literature as source of information, some books like "the Iliad", and different stories about great kings, shows those people the information about them. Nowadays media is one of the main part of our lives and our society, because we use word media, to combine all sources of information. Average man is spending 4 hours a day on watching TV and reading newspapers.

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

It can change opinions because they have access to people and this gives it a lot of strength. This strength can either be used constructively by educating the people or it can be used destructively by misleading the innocent people. Power of the media can transform the whole society especially in the developing countries it can be used as a 'weapon of mass destruction'. But I think the most important use of media is to educate the people about the basic human rights. The dilemma of the developing countries is that people are not fully aware of their basic rights and if they know, they don't know about what to do and where to go. They don't know their collective strength. Even they don't know how to protest and what is the importance of