The way we communicate and Technological Determinism

Pop culture and communications have always had an impact on society. Whether it was talking to a friend, listening to the radio, or watching the news, all of these forms of media affect the audience. Marshall McLuhan was famous for his ideas about technological determinism. He coined the phrases such as “the global village” and “the medium is the message.”

One of McLuhan’s central ideas is that “what has been communicated (message) has been less important than the particular medium through which people communicate” and that the technology that the message has come from is what actually affects us. We can see this in work when looking at the shift between oral communications to written communications to television and now the internet.

A strong point of McLuhan’s idea is that the form of communication changes the emphasis on the way we react and understand information. Also, as technology evolves, the ability for us to deliver and receive messages has increased. We can listen to one medium and read or watch another even at the same time!

We can now listen to messages at any time we want rather than have to be in a specific moment. This goes along with another vital point that with technological determinism, we are able to react to the medium and the message now in “real-time.” In contrast, before, we had to wait longer for the delivery or miss it altogether.

Lastly, a strong point of McLuhan’s ideas is the idea of “the global village.” We are now able to communicate with people from around the world as easily as picking up our phones. We have increased our “village” from being just our nearby surroundings to the entire planet.

With strengths, there are always weaknesses. McLuhan was so focused on the medium rather than the message. McLuhan believed that it did not matter what you were watching or reading or who put the information out. All that matter was what medium you were using. Other theorists and theories, such as Gerbner’s cultivation theory, believe that the message still plays a big part.

McLuhan also focused solely on society rather than the individual. This goes hand in hand with the medium is more vital than the message. It seems that for media to be an extension of man, you should probably focus on the individual and society.

McLuhan also pointed out that his earlier ideas, such as the tribal paradigm, had to be done in the order in which a person lived their life. However, McLuhan does not seem to consider people’s memories and the ability to learn from our pasts.

I personally find McLuhan’s ideas very interesting, especially with the development of the internet and social media. “The global village” or what some say should now be “global household” is very much appropriate for today’s society. The way we all communicate has changed because of social media, so now all we think of is what’s next?