“The Medium is the Massage” is a book written by Marshall McLuhan that describes how messages and content themselves change over time as mediums change and as technology grows. For context, the book was written in 1967 and still holds relevance today. One of the key things that McLuhan talks about is how the technology itself is a message, such as clothing, wheels, print, and more. There is a lot of pictures that try to convey McLuhan’s message as he wants to show striking images that are either unique or express a certain type of emotion. McLuhan also specifically uses the term, “massage”, to put a twist to the phrase, “the medium is the message”, and in order to put an emotion to modern media. As media is supposed to massage the mind of its viewers, it is juxtaposed as the evolving society and evolving technology result causes an “Age of Anxiety”. McLuhan also describes how people change their point of view and how their views are affected by modern media.
“The circuited city of the future... will be an information megapolis.”
CONCLUSION
After reading the book, my first thought was about how relevant the concepts in this book are to today’s society. Technology has continued to vastly improve since the time he wrote this book. There are new mediums that explore new messages now. Some examples are things like video games, digital experiences, websites, AR, and VR. The additions of new mediums cause a wider variety of messages to be made now. The evolution of technology is constant and people can express themselves in greater ways now. This goes along with how society has also now become a lot more accepting of different viewpoints and, consequently, is more accepting of new expressions.