Medium is the message can be somewhat confusing as we often think as medium as a size. It can, however, also mean a sort of psychic or, as in this case, a scientific meaning that discusses “carrying” or “delivering” something.
Which fits here. By knowing this meaning, we see that the speaker is saying that the way the message is delivered is the message. The medium of the”The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium that is, of any extension of ourselves result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” – (Marshall McLuhan ).
This quote explains Marshall McLuhan theories. This quote is talking about technology. Marshall McLuhan was born in 1911. He was born inCanada and lived through the transitional era of the industrial age to the information age. He is talking about the fact that technology is our new “norm”. Technology shapes the way our society functions today. Technology sends us the message on how people interact with each other. Technology sends us the message on what is the norm.
Technology gives us the messages on peoples identity and lifestyle. In Marshall McLuhan quote he explains the effects of technology and how it is changing and shaping our society today. McLuhan explains that technology has an effect on the way we think and commutate with others.”The major advances in civilization are processes that all but wreak the societies in which they occur.” – (A. N. Whitehead 2). White head is quoting that according to understand the changes in society we must know the changes in technology and media.
This essay will be focusing on Understanding the effects of media and the ideas of the modern architect. As technology starts to change so does our society. Our society moves the way our technology does. Canadian author Marshall McLuhan famously proclaimed “the medium is the message” in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. But what could this statement mean? What is the medium he refers to, and what is the message that it gives? McLuhan actually elaborates on this by explaining that “the person and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – results from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any technology” (McLuhan 7). This gives us some insight on what the word medium actually means in the context of the quote. It is technology that we consume and how it affects us.
The way we actually intake technology and get affected by it gives us a new perception of the world at large, the message we receive from it. This is important for the general population, because they need to recognize that the media they consume is a specific extension of someone with a specific message. Those who watch Fox News might only be learning about specific American issues that affect their community, but because the viewer does not recognize that this medium has a specific message, that of right wing politics, they may think that Fox News is giving a 100% unbiased opinion. Similarly, someone who only watches Russia Today might be influenced by the pro-Russia sentiment of the channel. Only viewers who understand the concept that McLuhan is trying to convey, the medium being the message, can realize that that specific medium is giving them a certain message and not the overall big picture.Historically we can see how medium being the message has affected the public, in some cases causing mass panic. A very famous incident occurring in 1938 when “War of the Worlds” was broadcast on radio. This narration caused mass panic because the public was not used to the radio broadcasting stories, and thought that the events that were in the book were actually happening.
The message of their medium was usually news, so when something presented as news but completely fictional was heard, the people actually thought aliens were attacking the Earth.This quote is especially accurate in the present, when the mediums we are taking in are literal extensions of our self. The information we post on social media gives everyone else an idealized picture of our lives, and this has unintended consequences regarding the message this information sends to people who interact with our social media. Some people may then view a person negatively based on the fact that they post multiple vacation photos, because they interpret this message as vanity or narcissism, while the person posting may view it as harmlessly sharing their adventures abroad.
