Hi Reddit,
I’m currently studying for my first media & communications final and I’m having trouble with Marshall McLuhan’s theory about “the medium is the message”. I understand that it’s more about the choice of medium rather than what the message is saying, but in what way? I’ve tried googling and watching videos, but I still don’t quite understand it.
Can anyone help me?
In: Other
He’s saying that all media, regardless of its content, has another meaning. If we take TV and the internet as examples, traditionally TV has a schedule and we passively watch this schedule. With the internet, we control the schedule because we can choose what to consume when we want to. All pretty obvious, but if you are running an authoritarian government (for instance) you may want to use TV to brainwash your population, which is possible because of the way it is made and consumed, whereas the internet may undermine your authority because people can search for dissenting opinions.
Think about all the different types of media and the implicit meaning they have – The broadsheet newspaper with a title printed in some classical-looking typeface might give an impression of serious, unbiased journalism. Does that impression come from the actual content or does it come from our shared cultural idea of what ‘a serious newspaper’ is?
The cultural expectations we bring with us when we consume media, and the reality of how each medium actually gets produced, is a message in itself.
The simplest example I can find: if you’re breaking up with your partner, is there a difference in doing it in person vs over the phone? Or by voicemail? Or in a text? What about an email? A social media post? A billboard, or a sky writer?
The content of the message has one semantic meaning, but how that message is delivered to its audience carries with it its own meaning.
You would necessarily trust information coming to you from the President of the US via TikTok, but if it’s in an emergency broadcast over TV/radio, you’ll take it a bit more seriously.
When I took a communications class in college I ended up with a perfect example in my own life.
Usually when my parents wanted to talk to me and catch up, they’d wait until the evening and then call me on my cell phone.
One day I was in class and I got a text message from my dad saying “Call me when you have a chance. Love you”
Two things stuck out from that in my mind: why did he text me, and why did he say “love you” in the text if he knew I’d see the message and call? Before I even called back I knew that something had happened, probably something bad.
It turned out that my grandpa had passed away that morning.
In that case, I had already known to expect bad news simply by the way the message was sent to me. The “medium” of a text, and it’s timing, was in itself a message about what to expect. If they had waited til the usual time and just called, I would have had no idea something was wrong.
Let’s say I write you a message saying I really care about you. I scribble it in pencil on the back of a receipt. You probably get the message that I don’t care that much.
Let’s say I write my guide on how to be rich and successful. It’s clearly a budget production, self published, with shit tier graphics and stuff that I probably had to get for free. You can guess I’m not that successful and disregard my message.
Let’s say you hear about the grand opening of my restaurant. You heard about it while watching the news. It was covered by like 4 different national news outlets. You know my restaurant is a pretty big deal and you should probably check it out.
Marshall McLuhan here. It’s just a catchy way to point out that the type and circumstances of the message are part of the communication.
I think the question is already answered in other comments but for some unsolicited school advice, this is a valid question to bring to your professor at office hours – and ones similar to it.
I often felt in my school days like I could “figure it out” on my own and often did fine. But it’s helpful to have your professor walk through it. It’s helpful for your professor to have feedback on how things were understood from their lessons.
And most importantly, if you ever want to go to grad school or apply to certain programmes, fellowships, scholarships even, it’s important to have a professor’s recommendation and that’s made way easier and stronger with a professor you have a good relationship with that knows you more than just your grade and submitted work. And a lot of that is built up by showing up to office hours and asking questions.
Some great answers. My takeaway: it might be more accurate to think of it as ‘the medium is part of the message’. Context, as always, matters.
Latest Answers