Marshall McLuhan "The Medium is the Massage"

Fig 1: Marshall McLuhan.

Today's class topic of discussion: Marshall McLuhan "The Medium is the Massage". We explored the concept of tools: what they mean to us as individuals and how they might actually affect us and the society we live in.

Before class I did a little research and discovered who Marshall McLuhan was, he was a communication theorist who became internationally famous for his studies of effects of mass media on thought and behaviour. He was particularly praised for his exceptional observations in "The Medium is the Message", a phrase coined by Marshall in his book. The iconic phrase simply means the way in which we send and receive information is more important than the information itself. In a world where we were once consumers, consuming information through many different tools such as the television or radio we are now producers creating our very own information in our 21st century. His approach in understanding how the tools we use frequently mould us and society we live in and create a framework for us to help question our use of social media and virtual tools.

This weeks blog post is going to focus on McLuhan's contribution to our understanding of tools as an extension of ourselves and their impact of behaviour. From reading snippets of McLuhan's book 'Understanding Media' I gathered that it shows how to synthesize multiple approaches and bring them to an analysis of different media as modes for communicating social and cultural information. Such topic of conversation which is still relevant today seeing as the internet is getting bigger and bigger each day.

Upon reading this weeks reading material I find it particularly useful in aiding my understanding what this weeks class was about. If I'm honest I had no idea who Marshall McLuhan was and found the readings helpful in helping me understand who he was and the work he published to the public. Anyone may question why McLuhan is 'required reading' for people trying to understand media today. In my opinion I think it is because he drew great importance to the attention of media as a mode of conversation.

I recently watched an interview between ABC radio national and McLuhan himself, in this interview he explained how "it doesn't matter what you say on the telephone because the telephone is a service it is a huge environment and that is the medium" this environment affects us all but what we say on the telephone will affect very few "what you print is nothing compared to the printed word" (McLuhan,1977). This particular sentence stuck with me particularly aiding in my understanding of what McLuhan actually meant by "The Medium is the Message". His arguments continue to offer a way to understand how changes in communication technology impact our language, culture, and society. The premise of “The Medium is the Message” is that the medium communicates meaning and guides interpretation regardless of what media it is broadcast on eg. radio or television. This video helped me grasp McLuhan's concept he emphasized that media is not just a tool but it slowly becomes an extension of ourselves. 

To conclude, tools are just tools at the end of the day and their significant meaning depends on what we do with them. In some shape or form we are online interacting and engaging in online communities everyday. Technology has become a reflection of ourselves; a huge importance in our lives in this modern day just like how understanding McLuhan's theories impact our behaviour when using certain tools on various platforms. 

References:

• Twyla Gibson, (2019). [ebook] Available at: http://file:///C:/Users/35385/Downloads/3345-Article%20Text-5002-1-10-20080319%20(1).pdf  [Accessed 19  Dec. 2019].
• "Analyzing The Theories Of Marshall Mcluhan". 2019. HASTAC. https://www.hastac.org/blogs/amcrochet/2017/05/10/analyzing-theories-marshall-mcluhan. [Accessed 19 Dec. 2019].