What did McLuhan mean when he said that ‘the medium is the message’?
Is this idea any use in understanding contemporary mass media?
When McLuhan said ‘the medium is the message’, he meant that the “message” of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs (McLuhan, 1964), insisting that when trying to understand the influence of media on human senses, people should focus on the properties of media rather than the messages they carry (Scannell, 2007).
His idea put an emphasize on the technological characters of media, acknowledging that every technological breakthrough of communication has all played a vital role in enlarging the scope of human cognition and changing the habits of …show more content…
And as Ian Hutchby(2001) said that technologies have different communicative affordances: the possibilities that they offer for action, communication technologies afford particular kinds of general use, without determining the particular uses to which they may be put by individuals (cited in Scannell, 2007, p142). The whole process of effective communication in a society is achieved by putting the right information on the appropriate platforms for particular purposes. Therefore, when trying to evaluate media’s role in the political, economic and cultural aspects of a society, we should take both the message and the medium, the whole process of a human activity, into …show more content…
(1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New
York: The New American Library.
Scannell, P. (2007). Media and communication. London: Sage.
Livingstone, S., & Das, R. (2013). The end of audiences?: theoretical echoes of reception amid the uncertainties of use. In: Hartley, J.,Burgess, J., and Bruns, A. (eds.) A companion to new media dynamics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 104-121.
Tutt, P. (2015). China’s sing-along video to explain its five-year plan. CNBC. Available from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/27/chinas-sing-along-video-to-explain-its-five-year-plan.html [Accessed 16 October 2016]
Shirky, C. (2011). The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political change. In: Foreign affairs, 28-41.
Heidegger, M. (1954). The question concerning technology. Technology and values: Essential readings, 99-113.
Deuze, M. (2012). Media life.
Is this idea any use in understanding contemporary mass media?
When McLuhan said ‘the medium is the message’, he meant that the “message” of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs (McLuhan, 1964), insisting that when trying to understand the influence of media on human senses, people should focus on the properties of media rather than the messages they carry (Scannell, 2007).
His idea put an emphasize on the technological characters of media, acknowledging that every technological breakthrough of communication has all played a vital role in enlarging the scope of human cognition and changing the habits of …show more content…
And as Ian Hutchby(2001) said that technologies have different communicative affordances: the possibilities that they offer for action, communication technologies afford particular kinds of general use, without determining the particular uses to which they may be put by individuals (cited in Scannell, 2007, p142). The whole process of effective communication in a society is achieved by putting the right information on the appropriate platforms for particular purposes. Therefore, when trying to evaluate media’s role in the political, economic and cultural aspects of a society, we should take both the message and the medium, the whole process of a human activity, into …show more content…
(1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New
York: The New American Library.
Scannell, P. (2007). Media and communication. London: Sage.
Livingstone, S., & Das, R. (2013). The end of audiences?: theoretical echoes of reception amid the uncertainties of use. In: Hartley, J.,Burgess, J., and Bruns, A. (eds.) A companion to new media dynamics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 104-121.
Tutt, P. (2015). China’s sing-along video to explain its five-year plan. CNBC. Available from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/27/chinas-sing-along-video-to-explain-its-five-year-plan.html [Accessed 16 October 2016]
Shirky, C. (2011). The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political change. In: Foreign affairs, 28-41.
Heidegger, M. (1954). The question concerning technology. Technology and values: Essential readings, 99-113.
Deuze, M. (2012). Media life.