Week 2: “The Medium Is the Message” Reading Reflection- Ying Chen

As shown in the title “The Medium Is the Message, McLuhan is conveying that the way message is created can influence and override the actual words of the message. The method in creating the message is called the medium and it is commonly used in our digital world that affects the way people perceive the message. For example, an emoji can have so much meaning and people perceives it differently depending on their mood. It can be seen in an advertisement that draws people’s emotion and attention with elements such as color. To me, it is a form of art that exists for a very long time even well before the existence of modern media. Art tends to have the same effects where it draws people emotions with many elements like color, space, and pattern which is adopted in modern media. 

This article relates to our course since we are studying in the creation of media with those methods that enable us to create stories. We are also expressing ourselves through the medium. While reading this article, I understand the significance of the medium. However, it teaches a lesson that sometime message can be manipulated with the medium and we have to be aware of what we are perceiving. An example would be the political slogan where it draws so much from our emotion, it tends to bring hate against another group of people.    

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