Chapter 1, The Medium is the Message, from Marshall McCluhan’s
Understanding Media: The Extensions of
Man thoughtfully explores media as an extension of ourselves. He goes into
explaining how the content of one medium is simply another medium. For example,
the content of writing is speech, and he traces it back to nonverbal process of
thought. He also explores how the content of a light is not what it illuminates
but rather the components of the light. So, he focuses on how the message is
defined by the vehicle is uses to get to us rather than the content of the
message.
I agree with McCluhan in the sense that how we communicate is important, and that it affects what we communicate. Choosing the right
medium for the message is just as important as thinking about what it is you
are communicating. McCluhan writes, “What we are considering here, however, are
the psychic and social consequences of the designs or patterns as they amplify
or accelerate existing processes.” As new mediums are introduced, each one has
a new and different impact than the last. They may all have the same objective,
to convey a message, but the form of communication changes the meaning of that
process.
For example, the way in which we receive a book is very
different from how we receive a film. Each unique with their own advantages and
disadvantages. However, part of McCluhan’s point is that we wouldn’t even be
reading or seeing these things had it not been for the medium. I find his
referral to General David Sarnoff very interesting. Sarnoff writes, “We are too
prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those
who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or
bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.” Some may think
that the devices themselves are neither good nor bad when they stand alone, but
it’s our actions when we put them to use that matters. However, McCluhan argues
that rather than the messages that are conveyed, it is the impact of the medium
that matters most and truly defines the message.
