The main point McLuhan tries to make is that the way we send the information or message is far more important than the information itself. The form of a medium embeds itself in any message via which it would transmit or convey, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.
The medium indeed has changed the way we behave. I was born from China before the 2000, witnessing the degradation of television and the spreading of social media tools like Facebook, Wechat and Twitter over the past twenty years. I remembered in my childhood, I fight with my sister for the remote control in order to watch my favorite TV channel. Now several clicks enable me to do so on my mobile phone, and the previous fights and quarrels become unnecessary. TVs have gradually gone out of sight. Instead, the instant exchange and conveying of information expose us to the most updated news happening around the world in no time. On the other, short and concise stories become more popular than heavy books as the latter have much redundancy and weight. Though the targeted recommendation and info manipulation has blind us from a comprehensive approach of learning the world, the advancements of media still benefits human beings in more ways than one.
It is impossible to understand the social and cultural change without a knowledge of the workings of media, as so many things are presented in front of us using media as a tool. Undeniably, this type of change has also brings challenges and confusions. Privacy becomes no longer capable of being protected, each trail of a person online will leave permanent record even if the person has attempted to delete it. The propaganda on the media becomes a significant battlefield especially for new businesses and politics, mobilizing the power in a subtle and unconscious way. Given those potential negatives, I could see McLuhan’s caution towards this change. No matter what, it is quite excited to see the prediction of McLuhan—-“an international, interconnected, interactive global village is now becoming an actuality”.