"The Medium is the Message"

McLuhan makes the point that the medium in which content is expressed is the "message". He explains that the way content is displayed conveys a even larger message than the content itself. I really liked his example of the light bulb. The light bulb has no content, it is just a light bulb. However, it can make areas dark or light and this conveys a message in media. The way in which the medium is used conveys a larger message. This article made sense to me because people often look at just the content of a piece of media without understanding the message. The most important aspect of watching media is how it is expressed rather than its content. The medium can also communicate societal changes and perceptions of media. For instance, facebook and twitter have become main resources for news when just about 20 years ago newspapers have us news. A great example of how the medium is the message is when the news covers a story about some event. McLuhan would say that the way in which the event is expressed is the message. How does society cover the message? Have our attitudes changed towards certain events in history? The medium influences society.

This video is great because it really explains how the Medium is the message. It goes through the history of simply writing words.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVJwb1OnYc