E-Com: The medium is the message

Do you watch TV, what kind of TV programs do you like? How about commercials, how do you feel when it interrupt the program you are watching?

Do you find the radio still useful? Do you still turn it on? Do you have it at home?

What about the internet, do you have internet at home? Do you use mobile internet? What do you use the internet for? Entertainment, education, work?

Anyway, whatever is the purpose of the different medium you are using right now. I do hope it made a great impact on you and the people around you.

Let’s take a look at this short ad I got from the YouTube.

 

So what do you think? What medium is use? What do you think is the message? Before reading the meaning of the “The medium is the message”, I thought the medium is the TV and the message is  “How to get a girlfriend?” but then I found out I was wrong.  Reading some explanation about the “The medium is the message”, I now understand that through that advertisement the medium is to advertise the product, PLDT MyDsl and the message to persuade the viewer to subscribe.

When it comes to understanding these various media, Marshall McLuhan is one of the best to learn from. He’s one of the educators and pioneer of the study of communication and its evolution McLuhan introduced a lot of observations about the impact of new forms of expression and media. He was the one who coined the expression “The medium is the message”.

According to Federman (2004), the way we understood the medium and the message is what we only see with our eyes, its literal meaning. He then explained that “message” is the change of scale or pace or pattern of the new invention or innovation introduced to human affairs. He further added that,

 "A McLuhan message always tells us to look beyond the obvious and seek the non-obvious changes or effects that are enabled, enhanced, accelerated or extended by the new thing.” 

Therefore, the message is not the content the medium is telling us but the transformation it can do to us or the society whether it is good or bad. In other words, we have dig deeper, to read between the lines. What does the message want to tell us?  For example, in weather forecast. We know that usually it tells us what’s going to be the weather today or in a week. But the real message is that the changes of weather pattern. Why is today rainy and tomorrow it’s going to be scorching hot. Why is it freezing this morning then it becomes stormy at noon. Thus, the weather forecast wanted to convey something deeper, climate change. Therefore what can we do prevent it from totally destroying the mother earth?

Take a look on this picture below. What do you think is the message? and the medium?

Baguio City, view from Quirino Hill. Photographed by yours truly. ^_^

So if the message is to create change or action to the receiver, what about the medium? What does the medium really mean? 

"The medium, is an extension of ourselves." 

Hence Bobbit (2011) then said that, medium is not only the extension of our body such as our hands, fingers, legs, feet, brain or our whole physical being but also the media or technologies. Thus, the wheel extends our feet, the phone extends our voice, television extends our eyes and ears, the computer extends our brain, and electronic media, in general, extend our central nervous system. He then added that language is also a medium because it is an extension of our inner thoughts, ideas, and feelings. A good example of medium is the computer. Through it we are able to access the internet; through the message of the internet we have gained numerous information and knowledge. The internet made real-time communication possible. Without the internet the computer would just be a device. We would not have enjoying the comfort and convenience in communication we are having at present. And the internet would be worthless without the computer.

Here's another video on "The medium is the message." I hope it'll help.

So, why is it useful to understand this expression? Federman (2004) wrote that “The medium is the message" enlighten us that awareness on changes in our society shows the presence of a new message, that is, the effects of a new medium. This means that the change that we notice becomes a warning, this warning will then guides us to identify and develop innovations before it becomes pervasive. 

As McLuhan reminds us, 

"Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it. Anticipation gives the power to deflect and control force." (McLuhan 199)

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References:

Federman, M. (2004, July 23). What is the Meaning of the Medium is the Message? Retrieved September 29, 2015 from http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm

Bobbit, D. (2011, December 30). Teaching McLuhan: Understanding Understanding Media. A Journal of Rhetoric Writing and Culture. Retrieved September 30, 2015 from http://enculturation.net/teaching-mcluhan

Video Credit:

PLDT Home. (2014, March 28). PLDT HOME DSL Ask Diego [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLKBD_DT2sk

BBC Radio 4. (2015, January 27). The Medium is the Message [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko6J9v1C9zE