Our society has been bombarded with various inventions of
new communication technologies, that all share a common purpose to communicate
and transfer messages. We continually see new creations of devices such as, the
Internet, smart phones, applications, and social media. Furthermore, we also see older devices develop
to survive this significant change across the few years such as, TV on demand
or even newspapers and magazines adapting their mediums from print to online. This transformation impacts on companies to
keep up and be ahead in renovating future communication technology devices.
However it’s our society who is demanding for these changes.
Thus, this concept of the medium change was never a surprise
for Marshall McLuhan. In 1964, McLuhan claimed that he always viewed the medium
“in the sense of a growing medium, like the fertile potting soil into which a
seed is planted, or the agar in a Petri dish”. In 2013, McLuhan’s theory proves
to be real, as today’s inventions and ideas seem to be unexpected from what you
would ever imagine to be created five years ago.
McLuhan’s most famous quote “the medium is the message” also
indicates to us about the effects that these mediums have on us. McLuhan once
explained his concept by using a light bulb as a metaphor of the medium. A light bulb contains no content in itself.
Therefore, the light bulb creates a large effect on our society as it enables
us to read at night, it can be used as a spotlight in a sports stadium, or used
while a doctor is proceeding an operation to a patient etc. The various mediums in our society all have a
significant impact on our society not only by transferring a message but it
also effects on us to define or change our attitudes and actions. For example,
a political campaign that we see on television may affect us to decide on whom to
vote for. Or a pop music video that we see on YouTube can perhaps create a new
culture or trend in our society. McLuhan’s concept of “the medium is the
message” reinforces us to think and reflect about the change and the importance
of these communication technologies on our society. 
Yes, media have effects on us. Back in Vietnam, the teenagers there get influenced by Kpop and Korean culture which they have seen on tv. Some of them are so into it, so that they try to copy the way Korean celebrities dress and behave. I'm not sure this is good or not, but sometimes i just cant tell if they are vietnamese or korean!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I totally agree with your point. Without the medium (tvs, radio and the internet) Kpop may never be so popular in Asia and worldwide. You could almost say that the medium produced this Kpop culture. And I'm also not quite sure if it's good or bad.
DeleteIt's a really good post indeed:)
ReplyDeleteAccording to my Russian life, government is always controlling us through media and moreover, there are lots of ads before elections to make us vote for a certain party. Unfortunately, it works perfectly