“Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man”

Marshall McLuhan’s book “Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man” takes you on a journey of media history, while promoting a sense-based approach. He started his book by defining the term “medium” as “any extension of ourselves” (McLuhan, 1994, p. 7) and more specifically, an “extension of our senses” (McLuhan, 1994, p. 53).

Divided into two parts, Part I highlighted his most famous statement: “The medium is the message.” He also distinguished between “hot” and “cold” media, with “hot” media requiring little or no participation, and “cold” media involving active participation from its audience. He discussed “hybrid energy” (McLuhan, 1994) that comes from “the meeting of two media” (McLuhan, 1994, p. 55).

In Part II of his book, McLuhan identified media that fits his definition including, but not limited to, movies, radios, television, ads, comics, photographs, phonograph, telephone, typewriter, as well as the spoken, written and printed word, numbers, among others. Even clocks were part of this group because its invention resulted in the creation of the sense of time. He explained how these were offshoots from our various senses, and analyzed these elements vis-à-vis his “hot” and “cold” media concepts.

Marshall McLuhan has been alternately praised and criticized for disseminating ideas that were deemed revolutionary for his time. However outlandish his ideas may have seemed at the time, it is useful to point out that, his viewpoints on the electronic age apply to the present time.

He predicted the rise of the “global village” – a phrase he coined to describe what he foresaw as mass media’s future effect on society. Last night’s “Miss Universe 2011” on NBC was proof that we are indeed living in a global village now. With a viewership that spans millions from all over the world, fans watched the show at the same time, and were even “united” by an online voting tool that allows them to interact with the program as they watched it. People all over the world viewed even the recently televised 9/11 memorials. McLuhan had the foresight to imagine a world where different people from different countries in different time zones would experience what media has to offer; in this case, everyone was watching the same program. The electronic age brought down the walls of the informational divide.

McLuhan maintained that our society started off as tribalized, and then was subsequently detribalized. “Phonetic letters and numbers were the first means of fragmenting and detribalizing man.” (McLuhan, 1994, p. 107) Inasmuch as media has the power to unite a group of people, it also has a history of dividing people in various ways. “Literacy jarred people out of collective tribal involvement into ‘civilized’ private detachment. Print made it possible to leave the tribe without being cut off from a flow of information.”  (Griffin, 1994, p. 336) However, it should be pointed out “McLuhan insisted that the electronic media are retribalizing the human race.”  (Griffin, 1994, p. 338)

As for his concept of “hybrid energy” (McLuhan, 1994), we see that this has been happening for the longest time – books are made into movies and audio books; movies are made into books and video games; toys are given storylines and made into movies (for example, Transformers); telephones evolve into cellular phones with music, videos and photos, even a QWERTY keyboard. With every step in a medium’s evolution, new challenges come with it. “All media are active metaphors in their power to translate experience into new forms.”  (McLuhan, 1994, p. 57)

In addition, as a result of everything being done electronically, the spoken word gets pushed to the sidelines. Most people seem unable to relate to one another personally nowadays. Both Facebook and Twitter make you feel as if you are connected to so many people, yet most people are so busy updating their statuses to have time for actual human interaction. The personal has taken on a virtual nature – phone calls are no longer answered. Taking its place are text messages, e-mails, tweets and status updates. People no longer remember birthdays because Facebook will remind them. Everything is all about emoticons, smiley faces, and LOLs. This is where the disconnect between thought and feeling occurs, and where detachment kicks in. What McLuhan maintained seems to hold true, “[a]ll media exist to invest our lives with artificial perception and arbitrary values.”  (McLuhan, 1994, p. 199)

“Today, we need also the will to be exceedingly informed and aware.”  (McLuhan, 1994, p. 70)This statement is true then and it is true now, but informed and aware about what? It’s true that we now live in the Age of Information and Communication, yet this age has brought upon us the element of over-sharing as well.

It is interesting to see how else communication will evolve through the years. As for McLuhan’s ideas, these can be used as approaches and tools in studying media’s future, as he already predicted circumstances that proved true. Thus, it is imperative that despite living in the electronic age as predicted by McLuhan, skepticism and critical thinking should be the name of the game.

Bibliography

Griffin, E. (1994). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

McLuhan, M. (1994). Understanding Media, The Extensions of Man. Cambridge, MA, USA: The MIT Press.


[Submitted as Sacred Heart University's CM501 class requirement]