None of what I am saying is new. Decades ago the media sage Marshall McLuhan summed it up in his timeless phrase, “The medium is the message.” The medium, the technology or channel of communication, influences society and individuals more profoundly than the content, altering our senses and habits and, in turn, our perception, interaction, and... See more

This difference is what the media theorist James Carey calls the ritual view versus transmission view of communication. In the ritual view, communication is an act of sharing or fellowship between people. This is reflected in how the word “communication” itself shares a root with “community” and “commonality”: the original reason for why we would... See more