The medium is the massage
Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian philosopher who wrote the book The Medium is the Message which was ultimately printed as The Medium is the “Massage”.
McLuhan’s claim that the medium is the message implies that the medium through which viewers/consumers receive the message has a great influence and is more important than the contents of the message itself.
An interesting perspective, sure — but it’s definitely applicable. If this media theory had no legs, it wouldn’t be staple in the media studies field.
What has been communicated is considered less important than how it has been communicated because of McLuhan’s theory of technological determinism. Technological determinism states that progressions in technology and communication mediums results in the growth and expansion of society and its values.
McLuhan hits the nail on the head with this aspect of his theory. As technology advances people find new common methods of communicating, thus furthering the communicative growth of society.
According to Mark Federman (Chief Strategist from the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology), the renound Canadian philosopher believed people tend to focus on the obvious and remained oblivious to the subtle. In giving his own interpretation of what The Medium is the Message means Federman stated, “In [fosucing on the obvious], we largely miss the structural changes in our affairs that are introduced subtly, or over long periods of time” (Federman).
McLuhan focused on long-term influences on society and communication. He was right in stating that people interpret the content of a message without considering the method in which they received it. He was also right that this shouldn’t be the case as mediums of communication are integral to societal growth and should be given more attention and respect.
Despite agreeing with the aforementioned claims made by McLuhan, I don’t think this theory can be applied in every aspect of media studies. It’s true that the means of communication have a lasting influence on the people using it (e.g. printed documents placing cultural emphasis on visuals, strictly sound-based mediums like radio placing emphasis on auditory means of communication) however, this influence occurs over time and in the moment a message is transmitted, the most important facet is still the message contents.
It’s my opinion that in the short term, the message is still pertinent and has a greater influence. In this case the medium acts as a vessel to transmit the message to the receiver. The medium will likely have been established as a culturally relevant factor in communication quietly over time and won’t be something considered by the receiver or the sender.
Ultimately, McLuhan’s technological determinism theory addresses important truths regarding technological growth and mediums — mainly that technology’s constant growth allows us to progress culturally and societally and that over time, the mediums through which we conduct communications dictate how we think and process certain messages. However, this theory isn’t completely correct in claiming that the medium is more important than the message. The contents of the message hold significantly more short-term importance as the means through which society communicates at a certain point have already been established through years of progression. To the receiver, the medium is important (despite being expected and a non-factor), but the message is paramount.
