Week 3 Medium is the Message

The Medium is The Message

 

The medium is the message is a book written by Marshall McLuhan. Except, he found that his book editor typed a word wrong, resulting “The Medium is the Massage”. However, Marshall McLuhan liked the typo because it confusing people, making them questioning the “Massage” word, some people even read it as Mass Age. But what is the word The Medium is the Message means? Is the word “medium” and “message” the same? And how this concept applied into our daily live?

The message and the medium is both different entity. When we receive a message, we got the message. We learn the content of the message rather than the form of the message. What we received is what we understand. As in contradiction, Marshall McLuhan focusing on the medium. He believes into the concept that message delivered into different forms. Marshall McLuhan argue that what has been communicated has become less important than before. Technology changes the way people communicate. It changes us and it changes the society.

Our communication system changed upon the time. Throughout the history, we know that first method to deliver a message is by speech. We learn something new by listening to the other, we are given a message from the other by listening what they speak. The medium is the person it self. A hundred years later, we learn a written language. We began leaving speech as communication method and moved into written form. Completely utilize the new forms. In the speech method, our most useable sense is the hearing sense. We perceived the word by word and makes a visual image in our brain as what we heard. It might not really accurate as we never see the information directly. However, in the written era, our visual sensory is the most important. We see everything and visualize it as it is. Hundred years later, we began the electronic communication. Radio, television, and internet discovered. We are once again moving into new medium. The message itself has become less important as we can participate within the medium. The radio gives us sounds only, like in the speech era, the televisions provides moving images and sounds. It makes us absorb the message in two linked entities, sound and visual.

In the modern era, we can relate the medium and the message into easier understanding. The medium is the platform. The platform can be any social media, such as Facebook, twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, DeviantArt, Tumblr, Etc. While channels also can be referred as medium, including ads, mail, and billboard. The message can be said the ways we connect to the audiences. This can be said what we posted in the social media. It includes videos, memes, infographics, games, and many more. The phrase created by Marshall McLuhan means that the forms of the medium is embedded in the message, it creates such a symbiotic relationship among each other, the medium influence the message perceived by the audience.

The medium is the extension of our body. As an example, the hat is the extension of our hair, the hammer is the extension of our arm, and the heel is the extension of the feet. It helps us to reach farther as well as helping us in understanding people. It is similar with the medium concept. Medium help us understand further. The medium of a language helps us extend our way of thinking into broader method.  In the advanced of technology era, we often find mediums nearby. The car is the extension to our feet, making us easier traveling in any place. The telephone help extends our communication range, we less need of pigeon and letter as the communication tools. The medium changed upon the technology approach.

What makes McLuhan so interested in the medium rather than the message? It because the medium is the tools to deliver the message and people often misunderstand the different between message and medium. Message is embedded inside the medium, while people perceive that message makes the medium, but it is the medium that makes the message. Take an example of one the social media, Instagram. Instagram only allow two type of posts (message); pictures and short videos. Thus, the message only available in two visual form. The medium (Instagram) provides the place for the post (message). The medium makes the message, not in the other hand.

In conclusion, the medium is not the same as the message. People often confused and pretend that the information they received is both the medium and the message. It is not, the medium is the container of the message, and the message is what we perceived (information). Marshall McLuhan clearly states that the current flow of technology will make people trapped in between the medium and the message. It is less transparent, but more accurate. His sight of the technology is deep, he believes that in any technological development, there will be always consequences.

“The Truth Shall Make You Free”- Marshall McLuhan.

Reference

Federman, M. (2004, July 23). What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message? Retrieved September 17, 2016, from http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm .

Kappelman, T. (2001). Marshall McLuhan: “The Medium is the Message” Retrieved September 17, 2016, from http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html

McLuhan, M. (1964). The Medium is the Message. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Retrieved September 17, 2016.