Reflection of McLuhan's Work

The Medium is the Message may have been antiquated but it sure did relate to our society. The best part is that McLuhan could forecast the internet before the internet was even on the drawing board.  The video spoke a lot about McLuhan’s phrases and how they related to conduits of communication.

One of the interesting points that Marshall McLuhan made was that he truly believed that people preferred to live in the past. He felt that it was because people were more comfortable because the past was more emotionally gratifying and satisfying. The ‘norm’ is trusted and as McLuhan stated, people go back in the old ‘medium’ rather than the new one.  We find that still today. I know that to be true in many cases, even in the work we have done in this course as well as in my work. I do find that even though it is innate to not embrace change right away, most of it depends on the ‘generation’

What is key is that McLuhan spoke as if he was Nostradamus. He spoke about the loss of privacy because of the mass collective store. All of the information including external identity; age, grouping, origin, etc.. there is nothing private anymore and this was an issue when he filmed this more than 50 years ago. Has this happened? Absolutely it has. Not only does Big Brother know when we cross a bridge because of our EZ Pass, the car dealership knows because we have GPS on our cars and our cell phones are tracked! The list of privacy infringements are a plenty but this is because of the medium at hand.  

McLuhan describes the various mediums that carry out messages; television – which he expresses, makes the younger generation turn inward towards the invisible world. I found that to be a great description. Even music, McLuhan says that it is directly linked to popular speech. For example, he uses The Beatles. McLuhan said it was the first time that English speech was turned into a musical form which made The Beatles very powerful. Another words, different mediums come about and allow us to cross barriers by erasing all categories.

Essentially, McLuhan reminds us that people all too often worry about the content of the message rather than the mode. The medium becomes the focus of our changes in society. Whether it was a handwritten letter, the telephone, electricity, television, texting, email, etc… they are all an extension of ourselves. We become part of the medium by communicating thru it, thus resulting in an extension of ourselves.  

 

Green’s model of  ‘operational, critical and cultural’ works with McLuhan’s theories. McLuhan speaks about the medium being the message which with Green, it would represent a ‘participatory culture.’ This is made possible by so many places having free wifi and devices to offer consumers. The critical component is carried thru with McLuhan’s theory that messages will be continued regardless of the mode. This is true when you consider as society evolves, messages still find an avenue to be disseminated, just the way it medium changes. And lastly, Green’s cultural dimension. This takes place without having to do much. I have examined the ‘net’ and its endless possibilities to create venues for anything., including but not limited to political deliberation, religious aspects, The internet has provided a place for anyone to feel comfortable, thus creating a safe place for new cultures to form and carry on.

McLuhan reminds me of Alexis deToqueville, a French Philosopher who wrote ‘Democracy in America’.  Perhaps he was not Nostradomus either, but he certainly knew where true democracy would lead America and he was right, a society with problems caused by our own ‘freedom’ and ‘rights’. The choices of mediums and the delivering of messages containing ‘anything goes’ content has put our society in a precarious position. This is one we need to learn from. I thought that Marshall McLuhan was an incredibly bright man who offered a great deal of worldly knowledge to everyone. I truly enjoyed his videos.