Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the message

Who was Marshall McLuhan ?


In the book of Social Theory : Power and Identity in the global era , Marshall McLuhan  (1911-1980) was a theorist of literature whose came out the ideas about media and global culture. He invented several phrases that captured the popular imagination and continue to be useful pointers to key features of contemporary culture.


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"The Medium is the message"


The most famous phrases by Marshall McLuhan that has entered language and contemporary consciousness, influencing the way we think and feel about media, the way we perceive their effects, and our awareness of their potential repercussions.   


The medium is an extension of the human mind or body.


For example ,


An headset / handfree is the extension of our ear (that allows us to communicate to the others through mobile phone when we driving/ listening to music quietly)


The medium is the message is a trope that uses a phrase to encapsulate the fundamental premise of the study of media: that the medium communicates messages.


Here is the lecture of Marshall McLuhan of The medium is the message that I got from Youtube.com


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

However, what if something occurs when a medium like headset/ handfree ,becomes over-extended? The resulting of amputations might be cause the person ear's deaf  or ear decease ? if someone turn up the volume too high. Although we know the advantages, even before implementation, but we choose to accept the disadvantages because there is a privileging of all types of technological extension, even deadly and horrific forms.


Four Questions Applied to Media


McLuhan has apply four laws to media that has frames as question , give us a new tool for looking at out culture.


"What does it (the medium/technology) extend?" For instant, mobile phone is extend our human voice.


"What does it make obsolete?" Mobile phone makes signals.


"What is retrieved?" The sense of community returns with the spread of telephone service.


"What does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?" The over-extension of mobile phone culture engenders a need for solitude.


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