To understand what McLuhan meant by “the medium is the message,” we must first understand the meaning of the word medium. Many of us, myself included, would think of medium as things like television, radio or even the internet. According to McLuhan, however, this definition is much broader. He says that a medium is anything that is an extension of our body. This medium is something that allows us to do something that we could not have done without it. Based on this definition, everything from the brushes used to write on papyrus tablets during the first dynasty to something as simple as a light bulb can be considered examples of mediums. So how does this relate to McLuhan’s message?
Overall, it seems to me as though McLuhan is saying the medium which is being used becomes a part of the message that is being communicated, and ultimately influences the ways in which society perceives this message. This goes back to the idea of technological determinism, which basically says that technology determines what happens in our society. In fact, these two concepts seem to be closely intertwined.
In my opinion, technology absolutely determines the patterns and development of our culture and society, and not the other way around. At first, it almost made sense to me that we determine the uses of technology, and ultimately the ways that these technologies affect our society. Have we not made things such as facebook and text messaging, both arguably new technologies, into everyday necessities? However, after reading McLuhan’s work, I realized that the opposite is in fact true.
One important point that McLuhan makes is that as a society, we have become so focused on the content of the medium that we ignore the changes that gradually begin to appear in our everyday lives as a result of that medium. Mark Federman puts this point more simply in his article “What is the meaning of ‘the medium is the message’?” According to him, as a society we look only at what a new technology can do for us and how it will improve our lives, generally ignoring the effects it could potentially have on us. Only after a long period of time do we “look backward and realize that there were some effects of which we were entirely unaware at the outset.” One of my favorite modern examples of this point is instant replay in sports. Growing up in a house full of guys, watching sports became a way of life. Because I have become so used to having instant replay right there in front of me while watching games, I have failed to notice how much it has really changed my mannerisms. However, this extends far beyond the personal level. Instant replay has also changed how society as a whole watches live football or baseball. At live football games, I admit, I am guilty of looking for the yellow line to appear where the first down marker is located. When at baseball games, I automatically turn toward the screen to see the replay of the previous play. I know that in the beginning, I did not realize that having access to instant replay when watching a televised game would change the way that I watch the same sport live.
So how does technological determinism factor into the instant replay example? Technology has basically made it so that we look for a yellow line on the field or to a screen to see a play that we missed again. These examples illustrate what is meant by the term technological determinism. As you can see, this is closely tied the unnoticed changes that are a result of new mediums.
Another one of McLuhan’s major points is that the medium itself, and not the content that is carried with it, should be studied. Television offers a perfect example of this. In today’s society, many parents try to restrict the amount of television that their children are watching each day. For example, they may limit their child to watching two or three hours of television a day. However, in these two or three hours that they are watching television, they could be watching anything, whether it is appropriate for them or not. By doing this, the parent is focusing on the message that the medium itself is conveying, and not the content of that medium. The medium, or simply television, is the message. The message that it’s carrying could include things like television is bad for you or it makes children less physically active and more violent. On the other hand, if you are limiting what the child is watching, you are now focusing on the content of that medium. Overall, the message that television carries focuses on the simple fact that television can be bad for you, despite the content that it includes.
Technological determinism plays an important role in this television example. This technological determinism influences parent’s thoughts on the detrimental effects of television. One of the earliest examples of technological determinism that we learned in class highlighted the fact that watching too much television can cause children, and even adults, to become less active, and ultimately more overweight. This shows how closely technological determinism relates to “the medium is the message.” Technological determinism is basically the result of the message that the medium is conveying.
Something as simple as the nightly news is a perfect example of McLuhan’s “the medium is the message.” Everyone focuses on the content of the news; stories of murder or other crimes. However, in doing this, they do not realize how their own personal attitudes are changing. They may be less likely to go into a certain area because of the reports they are seeing every night on the news. Overall, the goal of the news isn’t just about communicating the stories themselves, but to change the attitude of the public as well. This is a perfect example about how the medium (the nightly news) is the message (there is too much crime in modern society). Technological determinism is also a part of this example. The fact that viewers will develop an opinion of crime is a result of the technology.
The previous example also illustrates another point that McLuhan makes in the chapter about understanding radio. McLuhan discusses how the medium of television changed politics, specifically the presidential race between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. As a medium, radio conveyed a message based on the politics of each candidate. However, the message that the television is sending depends primarily on the appearance of the two candidates. It didn’t matter what either candidate was saying. Based on appearance alone, society perceived Nixon as “a phony” in the words of Marshall McLuhan. The medium of television was sending a message based purely on what the viewers were seeing. In this case, content (or what the candidates were saying) was unimportant to the audience. Overall, this shows the importance of the dots which make up each picture on a television screen. This goes back to McLuhan’s point that the medium itself should be the focus of study and not the message that is carried with it.
As technologies continue to be developed, they will continue to impact not only our lives, but our society in unforeseen ways.
Federman, Mark “What is the Meaning of the Media is the Message?”
McLuhan, Marshall. "Understanding Radio." Communication in History; Technology, Culture, Society. 5th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2007. 234-40.
