A Look into a Digital Society

It is argued that Marshall McLuhan’s book, The Medium is the Massage, is very far ahead of it’s time in regards to the study of how communication technology has changed society. This book focuses on modernity, however, many of the philosophies are still relevant in the postmodern world. McLuhan first looks at the most obvious parts of human life that have been altered by electronic media, “everything is changing — you, your family, your neighborhood, your education, your job, your government, your relation to ‘the others’” (Page 9). However, these most obvious social constructions are not the only thing that McLuhan addresses.

McLuhan often implies that we are consuming media at such a fast rate that it will eventually take over. There is no barrier to the amount of information that is thrown at us every day. On page 70 on McLuhan’s book, there is a cartoon of two young girls walking down what appears to be a school hallway (pictured left). One girl says to the other, “it isn’t that I don’t like current events. There have just been so many of them lately”. While the increase of events may vary slightly, the issue is not with the amount of events happening, it is instead caused by the countless different mediums in which we can access them. Current events pop up as notifications on your phone, can be heard on the radio or TV, and is coated over social media with daily news that influences our lives. As media expands, there are no restrictions on the amount of media and news that is thrown at us every day. During the scribal and oral era, ‘current events’ were only known within tribes, it was spread by word of mouth, and communities were so small that there was not much to talk about. Now, current events are perceived from all over the world. As McLuhan writes on page 68, “print technology created the public. Electronic technology created the mass”. In a matter of seconds, you can access real time information from anywhere in the world. Communities are no longer small, in fact, technology is a community within itself; A community with no geographical limitations.

While this new electronic community can be looked at as a positive way to bring humans together, it also eliminates the desire for privacy or close relationships. McLuhan argues that in “a world of totally involvement in which everybody is so profoundly involved with everybody in which nobody can really imagine what private guilt can be anymore” (Page 61).

Personal information is now shared generously and eagerly. Not only do people post photos or text writings about their day to day activities, apps like Snapchat or find my friends offer a whole new set of privacy concerns. These applications provide your friends with your real time location, even zooming in the building you are located at. Social media is also a large influencer within the ‘digital community’. The involvement in other people’s lives have taken over the interest of most of the population. Personal status is now defined by how many people are are interested in your life, how many people are staying involved. Even before the invention of social media, McLuhan saw the consequences arising from even the most basic forms of early media, “the older, traditional ideas of private, isolated thoughts and actions — the patterns of mechanistic technologies — are seriously threatened by new methods of instantaneous electric information retrieval” (Page 12). In a world where everybody has access to everything, there is no privacy left.

This access to information and feeling of digital community also effects the societal framework by bringing together similar people from around the world. During the 60’s, civil rights and equality movements were emerging from everywhere, people were joining together and fighting for what they want. McLuhan would argue that this is because “in an electronic information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained — ignored” (Page 24). Technology offers a safe platform for people to be themselves. Because of this and the mass spread of technology globally, people start to realize that they are not alone.

People are meeting others that are similar to them in ways that they would have never known. A woman by the name of Helen Gurley Brown, utilized print media to attract a large audience and organize a group of resistance. Her book, Sex and the Single Girl, reached women across America and gathered the attention of many. Women began to realize that they wanted things to change, they started to talk, group together, and eventually grow into a movement for equality. With access to technologies, minority or activist groups can grow rapidly with little effort. As said before, the coverage of current events is so easily accessible that people who would have never been informed can join movements that they believe in. This can be applied when looking at today’s protests for gun control. Media plays a large role in organizing gatherings, requesting change, and spreading information.

McLuhan realized the drastic effects of electronic media even before the age of social media. The consequences are still evident in today’s society and his theories are so relevant that they fit into today’s world perfectly. McLuhan’s book could be interpreted to make one believe that media creates a negative cloud over society, however, he does offer a glimmer of hope for some. People are forming digital communities, joining together to create change, and creating friendships regardless of geographic locations. I believe McLuhan’s theories will remain evident as technology expands because even though the way we perceive media is altered, the effects it has on us remains the same.

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