âThe medium is the messageâ, as Mcluhan argues in his book, emphasize the effect of medium itself rather than the âcontentâ it carries. Mcluhan provides a new way to look at the relationship between âmediumâ and âcontentâ (or âmessageâ). Instead of the traditional dichotomy view, from Mcluhanâs perspective, the medium is not only a container and the content is not just something carried by the medium. As Mcluhan explains, âthe âcontentâ of any medium is always another mediumâ. The medium is the message, and the users are the message of the medium. For example, today every web user is producing content for the internet and in return, this content consists of the internet itself. According to Mcluhan, what matters more is not âwhat is the contentâ but âhow does the way it is conveyed affect ourselvesâ. Mcluhanâs argument provokes us to observe the development of human history in terms of the development of the medium. People used to perceive the world with five senses. But the medium alters the sense ratio, resulting in the imbalance of using different senses. The invention of printing with the emphasis on vision turned our way of thinking into a linear form. As writing becomes the main method of communication, logic, and rationality original from the independent and linear way of thinking. Besides, it also contributed to the rise of nationalism and individualism. While the invention of television engages more listening and touching and brings up the level of human interaction.
In the macro level, the medium has such a huge impact on the sensation structure of human beings and influence the whole society. The appearance of a new media even marks a new stage of human civilization. In that sense, the content carried by the media becomes less important. In the micro level or the individual level, we can also feel the power of the medium. For example, we are now living in the Internet era. The so-called âInternet thinkingâ is related to the characteristics of the internet such as âconnectionâ, âinteractionâ and ânetworkâ. We are also becoming more and more dependent on the media â we turn to Google when we have questions, we look at the map on mobile phone when going to some places⌠The Internet has largely changed our way of thinking and behaviors but we are not aware of that. Only when we realize the existence of the medium can we recognize the changes brought by the medium.