The Medium is the Message
Context
McLuhan’s wrote during the Post-World War II Era, the 1960s.
- Massive technological advancements like television and radio
- Mass Media and television was becoming the dominant force shaping public opinion and culture.
- As a result, McLuhan focused on how media’s shift into the technological era was changing society.
- McLuhan was influenced by Harold Innis (Canadian economist + media theorist) in subject and ideology behind his ideas, and James Joyce in terms of literary technique and exploration of language.
- Interestingly, he had an efficient way of deciding how to read. He only read the right hand page of books, because he thought books were very redundant.
Key Theories
- ==“The Medium is the Message”:== One of McLuhan’s most famous phrases, it encapsulates his belief that the medium through which information is conveyed is more important than the content of the information itself. This idea emphasizes how different media shape human experiences and societal structures.
- ==Global Village:== McLuhan predicted that electronic media would lead to the creation of a “global village,” where geographical distances would become less significant, and people worldwide would be interconnected through instantaneous communication.
- ==Hot and Cool Media:== McLuhan classified media into “hot” and “cool” based on their level of interactivity and the amount of sensory involvement they require. Hot media, like print and radio, involve fewer senses and demand less audience participation, while cool media, like television and telephone, involve multiple senses and require more audience engagement.
Content
Marshall McLuhan - Digital Prophecies: The Medium is the Message
McLuhan Effects of Mass Media on our lives in relation to form instead of content When we pay too much attention to the content, we ignore the power of its form.
If you don’t understand the form, then you don’t understand the message.
”A medium is not something neutral, it does something to people, it takes hold of them, it revs them up, it massages them, it bumps them around.”
Invention of the internet
- implies an end to secrecy.
- allows everything to happen incongruently in relation to each other, its “all happening now.”
The Medium is the Message by Marshall McLuhan | Animated Book Review
In the 21st century, we are now not only the consumers of information but the avid producers of it.
McLuhan on Privacy
Electrical information devices for universal, tyrannical womb-to-tomb surveillance are causing a very serious dilemma between our claim to privacy and the community’s need to know
My interpretation: Social Media and the Internet, as well as general mass surveillance contract us to being on display, which complicates our peace of mind, and puts our existence in constant consideration of how much citizens at large should know in order to feel safe.
- You can relate this easily to Edward Snowden, to some he’s a hero, some he’s a traitor.
McLuhan on Consequence
One big gossip column that is unforgiving, unforgetful, and from which there is no redemption
- Cancel culture - anything you post online is permanent and will be considered in terms of you now as opposed to you then.
McLuhan on Consequence
Real, total war has become information war. It is being fought by subtle electric informational media - under cold conditions, and constantly
- Massive media corporations with clear media biases waging war with information.