McLuhan is the man who created “The medium is the message”. It means
a medium changes society’s values, norms and ways of doing things. It is
something which has social implications. For me, I agree this phrase.
In oral culture, people only could get the information from
collective listening. After the first mass media, print media, had been
produced, people could individual read the information. After electronic media,
people could experience the information at the same time but different place
because of radio and television. After internet had been produced, people could
get the information anywhere and anytime. Every time the media culture had been
changed, people would think different way as each medium produces a different
message.
Using news as the example, sometime I cannot be neutral to read news
as the media. I read an article from Daily Express that the headline is “Paw
thing! Daft dog rescued after getting his head stuck in a WALL”. After I read
the word “daft”, I just thought that it is a stupid dog. However, it could just
be careless. As the newspaper, it changed my feeling and affected my thinking.
And then I blindly thought the dog is foolish.
The other example is “Ice Bucket Challenge”. It is an event that
came from social media to increase the concern of ALS. Actually, less people
know about ALS before. But through social media, this event attracted many
people to participate. However, gradually it became a trend which came from
social media. One of my friends said that every person accept the challenge. It
is so popular so I would “play”. The other friend said if I do not join, I
would lose my “face”. Therefore, people who accepted the challenge may because
of their reputation and image or may not really understand the aim and meaning
but they just follow the trend from social media.
Therefore, because of the medium when people get the message, the
way of thinking and the feeling of them would be changed. Consequently, the
media we use determine the way we think. (346 words)
Student Name: Uni Chong
Dear Uni, your obversatioin is accurate. Newspaper's political orientation would affect reader's perception of news. The one regarding "Ice Bucket Challenge" is also interesting. What you need to notice is about the difference between "content of media" and "media technology per se". McLuhan's argument is more about the importance of the latter. The writing here addresses both the conent and the media now.
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