Medium is the Message

I think McLuhan brings up a very interesting point that is all too often overlooked. It is incredible how much different types of media — TV, radio — effect us regardless of their content. How many people do you know keep the TV on in their house even when they’re not watching it or maybe even when they’re not there? We are so used to constant stimulus that silence seems intolerable. McLuhan’s idea seems most apparent to me in TV, and even more so in the internet. We as a society have become so reliant on TV and internet for entertainment, interaction and even just comfort. Both of these media give us a false sense of connection with the outside world. The internet delivers this on some level, but it is still scary to think of virtual communication taking over completely.

The idea of media embedded within media makes all of this even more scary. Not only are we as a society controlled by these electronic devices, but we are receiving messages from them which affect us as well. Thinking about the content of songs, websites and TV shows only adds another level to the decline of our society.

However, we should view this objectively. What we see as a diminishing of human interaction may, and most definitely has already, be opening up new doors for societal expansion and evolution. McLuhan explains DeTocqueville’s disapproval of typography and print in America in the 18th century. Today, we certainly would never see the development of printed language as detrimental to our society. So, although, the idea of these media growing in importance in our society today seems frightening now, we may one day be eternally grateful. Change is always scary, but inevitably necessary.