In the first paragraph, Marshall Mcluhan lets us know that “medium is the message”. This means that form of a medium embeds itself in any message it would transmit or convey, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived, according to Marshall Mcluhan. In this day and age there are many different mediums. We have social media, which plays a big role in how messages are delivered todays which has its pros and cons. In the article it states “the new patterns of human association tend to eliminate jobs…”. I believe this means that because of technology and how the message gets around people are losing their jobs. When I think of people losing their jobs I think of journalist first because back then they were the only ones delivering the messages.

In the reading, they are coming electric light to the medium. The reading states that the electric light is pure information. It is a medium without a message, as it were unless it is used to spell out some verbal ad or name. This analogy had me very confused when I first read it, but I feel like he is saying that light is always traveling and so is the message. That is what I got from this definition and reading.

Joseph Singh

MCS

Jonah Brucker Cohen

April 12, 2018

Media Theory

Please write your response to the meeting and try to answer this question: Why is the medium so important to how we consume digital media?

According to Marshal Mcluhan, the medium within The Medium is the Message, is the form of a message whether that be print, visual or oral. And now due to the very tech advanced society we live in today, we can get media pretty much anywhere and distribute it as far as the internet takes it at an amazing speed. For example, you can see a trending video online and send it all the way via the internet to your cousin across the globe. Forms of communication or media include but are not limited to internet, television, newspaper, word of mouth, radio or computer. With, one can argue that yes communication between people verbally had decreased vastly from before but had inherited other mediums as the board for communication. So, you can say it’s a good thing that we have many mediums for communication, but the older methods and mediums for communication are dying out or weakening.

The medium is so important to how we consume digital media because it will determine how effectively your message will be distributed and how fast it will be sent out. With the technology we have now like iPad and WIFI and cell phones they help guarantee that we can distribute our message fast to as many people we want. In my opinion one major setback all this technology has on us is our face to face communication skills, and out spelling and vocabulary. All these” Smart Phones” are dumming the user down. Therefore, I feel the medium in which you use to consume digital media is very important.

This article was kind of difficult for me to understand. From what I got from it is that media is what we use when we want something to be said or known by the masses. That message is made from the content that content is intensified by another content and so on. The best example for this weird explanation that i’m trying to give is “The effect of the medium is made strong and intense just because it is given another
medium as “content.” The content of a movie is a novel or a play or an opera. The effect of the movie form is not related to its program content. Another explanation that I got from that example is that Media throughout time has grow in to an array of channels and different forms.

Adcording to Marshal Mcluhan, the medium within The Medium is the Message, is the form of a message whether that be print, visual or oral. This determines the many ways in which that message will be perceived. Mcluhan believed that modern day technology/communications are effecting the ways we experience the world. These form of communication can include television, radio or a computer. I can agree to that there are some negative results pertaining to our medium now a days as well as the positive outcomes. The communication between people can be seen as increased but also decreased. The many new resources and options we have today makes it easier for us to get a message out. It allows faster communication with also being able to communicate with more people at once.

However, most of these resources and forms of communication are digital (cellphones, computers, television). This leads to less oral communication and human contact. There was one point made by Mcluhan about literacy being involved with the mediums that I also agree with.  Mcluhan believed that people would become more illiterate is being due to the oral and printed communication we lack. I can understand this because they less we have to read or write , we are not developing our vocabulary or expanding it.  Over all, this shows how important the medium is to the way we consume digital media today.

Today we will be splitting into 2 groups. You will be provided with 5 messages and the groups will have to find the medium (TV , film, internet , radio, print) for each message. Then we will discuss with the class and see what you guys discovered.

This post was a bit of a struggle for me in the beginning as I didn’t really understand Marshall McLuhan’s theory that “medium is the message.” I have an idea but the reading was stiff and I had to dig dip for the meaning and research.  First, medium is defined as an agency or means of doing something. Writer Tabitha David explained it further, “This theory helps to explain why we communicate through more than one medium.” (Tabitha David. VAC) This was true when Marshall coined this term and it still rigs true today because there are many different mediums and social media has a lot. There are different handles like Twitter, Facebook and my favorite Instagram. In all these ways, we can convey a message. So, in theory, the way that a message is conveyed which is the medium is the message.

In the reading McCluhan stated, “For the message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that introduces into human affairs.. The railroad did not introduce movement or transportation or wheel or road into human society but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions…” (McCluhan Pg.1) This means that even though one would think the train –the railroad which is the medium isn’t just a away a way of doing something in other words taking people to their destinations. It is more than that, it is the message because instead of looking at the railroad in one way it is also a part of a movement that expanded and did many things for humans as we don’t have to walk for hours to get somewhere. The railroad, the medium does this and that is the message.

As I read further it became clearer when I read Napoleon’s statement, “Napoleon had paid attention to other media as well, especially the semaphore telegraph that gave him a great advantage over his enemies, He is on record for saying that “Three hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” (McCluhan, Pg. 5)  That statement speaks volumes regarding the theory that medium is the message. How it is conveyed was very important and Napoleon knew that three angry news outlets were detrimental than any other thing. That stands even to this day. The media is a beast and that message can be very scary and intimidating and with social media it has only become worse.

Joseph Singh

March 29. 2018

MCS

Jonah Brucker Cohen

Youth and social Media

After reading, “Its Complicated”, I concluded that teens whom are raised in a technological environment are considered “digital natives”.  But adults are considered “digital immigrants” because they weren’t raised in a technological environment and were not raised to adapt with technology at a young age. While I was reading this article, it reminded me of a movie I once saw called cyber bully. It was basically about how this girl was being bullied via the internet and ended up trying to kill herself. This leads me to my next statement which is although kids are growing up in a technological era, it still doesn’t make it safe for them to be online and have social media and search the web. There are predators, people who are “trollers” and bad hackers on the web who have malicious intent.

Teens and kids are becoming more tech sav and technology proficient because just like them they are growing up with the internet. One thing that social media sites do good for teens is offering like buttons with accurate numerical amounts. This feeds the need for teens want to be “like It works liked”. It works like a currency, because the more you have the richer you are, or basically the more you have the more famous or relevant you will be. Furthermore, Social media is a very big part of almost everyone’s lives, to the point where if you don’t have social media you’re the one who is odd or weird. Basically, it is a norm to have an Facebook or twitter or Instagram. Also, when you are looking at a teens Facebook profile vs an adults profile you will see many major differences. For example, the friends list will be vaster on a teen because teens add anyone with out being cautious that they could be dangerous vs an adult who would only friend’s family and acquaintances. Lastly, I think it is great that kids are becoming very good with the internet and social media, but I’d just like to see more safety for innocent children from predators when searching the web

I agree with this weeks topic to an extensive amount. I’ve always believed that children who  were born in the 2000’s are more prone to everything being said in the articles. “Digital natives” is a very creative and a great phrase used to describe kids these days.We are in an era where adults are becoming a bit more naive when coming to technology and children are becoming the pioneers of it in a way. I’m guessing thats where “digital immigrants” come into play. The fact that kids are growing up surrounded by technology and social media makes them so much more versatile and deeply invested into technology. Then there’s adults who are just getting into these  new waves of socializing and using digital equipment.

Although i agree with the fact that millennials are way more versatile and efficient when it comes to using technology over adults, i do believe it might have negative affects on children. One of these is definitely becoming lazy and looking for information online. Although the internet provides a wide array of information and knowledge, much of it isn’t always 100 percent correct or backed up by any true facts. Many teens fall victim to plagiarism in school when they head to the internet for information. This is obviously a big factor in them becoming lazy. In my opinion, a lot of technology made children lose there since of originality.

I found the reading interesting. I definitely agree that the youth of today are seen as “digital natives” while older people are considered “digital immigrants”. Youth these days have essentially grown up in the age of social media, and tend to be, for the most part, quite tech savvy when it comes to computers, video games and the navigation of social media.

However, I also agree that many young people do not always know how to use critical skills when using the Internet as a source of information. The Internet is a plethora of knowledge, and it has many valuable, but also problematic sources of information on it.

“Because many adults assume that youth are digitally savvy—and because they themselves do not understand many online sources— they often end up giving teens misleading or inaccurate information about what they see online. A conflict emerges as teens turn to Wikipedia with uncritical eyes while teachers deride the site without providing a critical lens with which to look at the information available” (“It’s Complicated”, page 188). Throughout our school years, we were told constantly to not use Wikipedia as a credible source of information. We have to take it with a grain of salt because it can be edited by anyone.

As a whole, youth could benefit from active learning on the internet rather than passive learning. More young people can use their voice to create a space and an online presence for themselves.