“The Medium is the Message”

In this piece, Todd Kappelman speaks highly of Marshall McLuhan emphasizing that his sole purpose was studying the impact of technology on popular culture and its’ influence on human relations and society. Amongst the several terms McLuhan had coined, Kappelman refers to the “global village,” which depicts our world coming together and focusing on our present expression.

Kappelman mentions McLuhan’s, disturbing yet very true, prediction that “we become what we behold.” This quote brought to mind teenage girls being bombarded by countless images of perfect/slim models in magazines, billboards, on television, etc. Such teenage girls might not take into consideration that many of these commercialized images have been photo-shopped/manipulated with, causing a good number of young adolescents to suffer from anorexia or bulimia. In reference to the advertising industry, McLuhan later notes that the media does not necessarily want women to obtain a certain look to impress men yet to put on an ideal performance for anyone ( to land that job, to feel noticed, etc.).

Another topic of the article is McLuhan’s ideology of “extension” and “amputation.” He explains that extension is a way in which we use something of which we have extended to create a new. An amputation is almost the opposite of an extension and refers to what the extension is taking place of. A car or plane would be an example of extensions of our feet. The walking culture would be the amputation. McLuhan notes that our society’s primary focus is on extensions and that amputations are usually ignored. We are so fascinated with how much more efficient and effective an extension might be that we disregard the consequences on the amputation level which could be pollution, obesity, etc. He also explains that our society becomes so accustomed to such thinking that we are immune to certain amputations or hazardous scenarios. For instance, although there may be a fast moving car or train a few feet away, people think nothing of it.

Lastly, Kappelman provided McLuhan’s “Tetrad,” laws formed as questions to view our culture in terms of a specific technological medium.

“What does it (the medium/technology) extend?

“What does it make obsolete?”

“What is retrieved?”

“What does the technology reverse into if it is over-extended?”