Author Marshall McLuhan is most famous for saying “The medium is the message.” The method of communicating something is the most important aspect of its meaning. Something as simple as electric lights is a medium. They are highly visible and call back to the USA’s electric prowess. A modern example would be YouTube. YouTube, in itself, is but a host for video media; that has plenty of precedent. One’s willingness to publish to such a far-reaching platform says something in itself.
If this sounds familiar, I have published a post on this blog that goes into detail on that quote. That was a few weeks ago. Why call back to “the medium is the message” now? Mainly, the messages that mediums tell us go beyond the surface level traits that one may describe at will.
What Mediums Can Imply
J.D Applen challenges the simplistic application of McLuhan’s famous quote. He outright says that mediums have long-lasting effects on society. In his text, he uses examples such as information processing habits being altered by the use of Google. He even argues that it’s affected the way we read now.
While not in his text, Applen certainly implies that this mainly applies to platforms that the public accepts en masse. Obviously, MySpace isn’t affecting our larger society now. It is still around, but catering to a specialized audience. That said, I can think of a few platforms that still are, even over a decade after their founding.
Twitter is almost old enough to drink in the United States. Its limitation on text length has caused people to think outside the box. However, there’s something to be said about its userbase’s tendency to take things at face value. Everything a Twitter user would need is, theoretically, right on their timeline. Their home base. If an article shows up on their feed, the headline is usually the only text they’ll walk away with.
Mediums have messages, and sometimes, they’re quite hidden.
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