On the Enduring Relevance of Marshall McLuhan

When we talk about Canadians famous for analyzing new media, we often think of Marshall McLuhan first. With his koan “the medium is the message,” McLuhan synthesized his basic idea: Our tools, from electric light to television to phones, change not just how we communicate, but what we communicate about.

McLuhan’s view is that mediums matter more than content; it’s the common rules that govern all creation and consumption across a medium that change people and society. Oral culture teaches us to think one way, written culture another. Television turned everything into entertainment and social media taught us to think with the crowd.

PERPETUAL TRANSFORMATION... AND TO WHAT END

The reason I write about technology, is to provide a trail of my thoughts as we work through what it means to be molded by the tools we seek to mold.

We are absolutely massaged over by technology. And the internet, what has taken over more of our perceived reality than the truly experienced physical embod... See more