"The Medium is The Message"
Have any of you ever heard of, Marshall McLuhan? Yes? No? It's all good if you haven't because I am going to tell you about him and his media theory....
So Marshall McLuhan was born July 21, 1911 in Edmonton Alberta and died in 1980. He was a Philosopher and coined the expression "the medium is the message".
He has numerous published books;
- The Mechanical Bride (1951)
- The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
- Understanding Media (1964)
- The Medium is The Message (1967)
- War and Peace In The Global Village (1968)
- From Cliché to Archetype (1970)
- Laws of Media (1988) - collaboration with Wilfred Lawson
- The Global Village (1989) - collaboration with Eric McLuhan
- Future of The Library (2016) - collaboration with Robert K. Logan
A fun fact about him is that he predicted the World Wide Web 30 years before it came to be! I don't know about you but that reminds me of a part in the most recent Tron Movie.
One of his most well known theories is that "the medium is the message".
I am going to focus on this theory in this post. Which means that if there are a set of different medium and you convey the exact same message, that the message will have a different meaning/effect depending on which medium is used to convey it.
Also certain mediums have their own set of codes and conventions for very specific situations, for example a public birthday message. Let me explain, when wishing someone a happy birthday publicly you wouldn't just put " happy birthday."
1. Because it seems very informal
2. Comes across as very non enthusiastic or even as if you don't care
How people would normally send birthday wishes would normally include many uppercase letters many exclamation marks. Also a "nostalgic", "sweet", or even "silly" photo with them in it. Also one might add a short message saying how lucky they are to be in their life, or how great a person they are, and even some stories for nostalgic purposes. Anyways that's just the codes and conventions of a birthday message/post.
Keep in mind that style would be for a popular social media like instagram or facebook. If someone had published an article for their best friend or an acquaintance it might come across as weird or obsessive. But on a social media platform its normal to have (what looks like) a long paragraph and embarrassing photo to wish a Happy Birthday to a friend.
Another great example, which ties to the older generation is that now we can access legitimate news information from companies such as CBC, Telegraph, Washington Post on snapchat in the format of "snap stories".
Even though the information is legitimate, coming from a social media (one that had a different original purpose) falls to skepticism probably from middle aged to older adults (at least in my experience), almost as if the info is coming from a tabloid.
Regardless of the source. This is due to the platform which the info is found on. Even though the same information can be found on their company website.
Anyways, due to the "connotation" of certain medium it ends up "having a message" like Marshall McLuhan says. Affecting how we interpret our info. Almost like a bias against the info depending on the medium.
May your homes always be filled with snacks,
Mia
Here are my sources:
He has numerous published books;
- The Mechanical Bride (1951)
- The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962)
- Understanding Media (1964)
- The Medium is The Message (1967)
- War and Peace In The Global Village (1968)
- From Cliché to Archetype (1970)
- Laws of Media (1988) - collaboration with Wilfred Lawson
- The Global Village (1989) - collaboration with Eric McLuhan
- Future of The Library (2016) - collaboration with Robert K. Logan
A fun fact about him is that he predicted the World Wide Web 30 years before it came to be! I don't know about you but that reminds me of a part in the most recent Tron Movie.
One of his most well known theories is that "the medium is the message".
I am going to focus on this theory in this post. Which means that if there are a set of different medium and you convey the exact same message, that the message will have a different meaning/effect depending on which medium is used to convey it.
Also certain mediums have their own set of codes and conventions for very specific situations, for example a public birthday message. Let me explain, when wishing someone a happy birthday publicly you wouldn't just put " happy birthday."
1. Because it seems very informal
2. Comes across as very non enthusiastic or even as if you don't care
How people would normally send birthday wishes would normally include many uppercase letters many exclamation marks. Also a "nostalgic", "sweet", or even "silly" photo with them in it. Also one might add a short message saying how lucky they are to be in their life, or how great a person they are, and even some stories for nostalgic purposes. Anyways that's just the codes and conventions of a birthday message/post.
Keep in mind that style would be for a popular social media like instagram or facebook. If someone had published an article for their best friend or an acquaintance it might come across as weird or obsessive. But on a social media platform its normal to have (what looks like) a long paragraph and embarrassing photo to wish a Happy Birthday to a friend.
Another great example, which ties to the older generation is that now we can access legitimate news information from companies such as CBC, Telegraph, Washington Post on snapchat in the format of "snap stories".
Even though the information is legitimate, coming from a social media (one that had a different original purpose) falls to skepticism probably from middle aged to older adults (at least in my experience), almost as if the info is coming from a tabloid.
Regardless of the source. This is due to the platform which the info is found on. Even though the same information can be found on their company website.
Anyways, due to the "connotation" of certain medium it ends up "having a message" like Marshall McLuhan says. Affecting how we interpret our info. Almost like a bias against the info depending on the medium.
May your homes always be filled with snacks,
Mia
Here are my sources:
Jason, and AuthorJason Gross. “The Medium Is The Message.” Smashing Magazine, 4 July 2011, www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/the-medium-is-the-message/.
“Marshall McLuhan.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan.
“Understanding Media.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Media.
The citing of sources, the intellectual discussion posted here are evidence of exceptional thinking and learning. And, you are right; there is a type of bias in each medium and this is what can help us think more critically when we get any information. Amazing.
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