Marshall McLuhan

 The "father of media studies" is Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan. I'm shedding light to some of his most significant works in this post because of his immense contribution to media ecology.

The Medium Is The Message:

The concept that the media that disseminates a message has greater influence than the message itself was first put out by McLuhan. Simply said, people' perceptions of a message are shaped by the medium in which it is given. A person who reads the news from a newspaper will interpret it differently than someone who is listening to the news on the radio. This hypothesis was created by McLuhan in 1964, but the emergence of social media did not occur until 1996. Hence, even though he made no connection between social media and this concept, it's possible that he thought social media itself had a greater influence than the posts that are posted on these platforms. According to McLuhan, "the medium is the message," in other words, if a media is conveying a message that would not otherwise be accessible, then the means itself becomes the message.

Media Analysis of Human History:

Four eras comprised the history of humanity according to McLuhan: the tribal age, the literate age, the print age, and the electronic age.

The Age of Tribals:

McLuhan defined the tribal era as an aural period. Hearing is more useful than seeing in wild environments because it enables instantaneous situational awareness. Everything seems more real, more urgent, and more present in that surround sound environment. Hearing is believing in that age.

The Literary Era:

During this era, the phonetic alphabet gained popularity. Words are no longer instantaneous and living. They are readable and easily analyzed. Since people no longer need to be together in order to obtain information, proximity has become rare. Reading demands complete concentration.  

The Print Age:

The visual age was this. McLuhan dubbed it the "industrial revolution's precursor" since it showed how similar things could be produced in large quantities.

The Electronic Age:

According to McLuhan, the human race is being retribalized through electronic media. As in the tribal era, touch and sound are more significant than sight. We've "travelled back in time" and are now acutely aware of our surroundings once more.