People may regard that it should be what we see in the content rather than the carrier of the content that matters and influences our actions. We might think that it is important to know how to use the medium, how to tell a wonderful story in the content of a film, but we seldom realize the value of film as the medium. McLuhan challenges our content-centered view and argues in a different angle that the medium itself should be much more important and valuable than the content that it carries. Taking the example of printing technology, McLuhan says that print in the 16th century “individualism and nationalism” (160). The medium is shaping our society in its very first beginning, and we should realize how powerful it is. He continues warns us that “if the formative power in the media is the media themselves, that raises a host of large matters” (161). If a society restricts itself within one or two forms of medium, the people’s life and sensation in such an environment would become fixed.
Reflecting on myself, I cannot live without my mobile phone not only because of the attractive content on social media but also because the mobile phone itself is becoming a necessary tool to live my life here in Shanghai. Ordering food, paying the bill, booking the taxi, and even making an appointment with doctors are all available on my phone, and they, without doubt, are convenient. I always appreciate the programmers, innovators, and content contributor on how their work in developing software benefit my life and change our lifestyle. However, I did not realize that all these works cannot exist without the development of internet, web, communication infrastructure, and mobile technologies. McLuhan gives me a new angle in seeing our surroundings, and an insight to treat medium with a more comprehensive understanding.