The argument “the medium is the message” in which Marshall McLuhan discuss in his article is interesting to consider. What McLuhan seems to hint is that medium itself is what shapes and warps our perception of information rather than content delivered by a medium. For the most part, people today see a medium as a tool to convey messages. What most people, as McLuhan argues, failed to realize is the content of medium is simply another form of media. He describes that the content of written language is speech while speech’s content is in the form of thoughts. Thus, this brings back the argument that the medium is the message itself.
One of the implications of such an argument is that medium can shape one’s perception. Most of the time, people seem to focus more on the “content” of the medium. Yet the content is tied directly with the medium. For example, in the digital age, social media is a form of medium that allows users to post about their personal lives. In recent years, people have used this platform as a way to highlight the best parts of their lives. Thus, the medium of social media has been associated with people with glamorous lifestyles. This in effect alters the perception that nowadays everyone is doing something unique. The medium of social media has altered this perception along with the content. This argument has some legitimacy in today’s world as people need to understand the implications of a medium. With technology progressing and different mediums coming into existence, each specific medium has an underlying message that controls the actions of humans.
