Media theories

Medium is the message

It is not so much about the output of the medium but rather how it shapes culture and society

Take for instance:

Smartphones vs landlines

• Back before smartphones or Internet, we only had landlines to communicate over a distance. If someone did not pick up the phone; that was it.

• With the Internet and our phones, we are constantly connected regardless of time and space, and we even have read receipts,

  • This generates expectations of: immediate response, constant connectivity, fast-paced communication

  • The way we live our lives might be accelerated due to these factors

Television vs Netflix

• Television: top-down distribution, and plays an episode only once; if you miss it you will never get to watch it again

• Netflix: you decide what you want to watch, when you want to watch, how much you want to watch

  • generates infinite distractions

Radio vs Spotify

• Radio: you listen to what was playing and you cannot control it

• Spotify doesn't give you music; it gives you access to music

Search Engine vs Recommended feeds

• I used to actively search for what I want to watch on the Internet but these days YouTube has algorithm to decide what I think I would like

• Subconsciously, I let the Internet decide to think for me

Writing vs auto-correct

A question i posed to my professor was what would happened to society if advanced machines did the thinking for us, and to which he said: "well, it has already happened. Take a look at auto-correct and word suggestions". Isn't that in some way controlling the way we think?

Post-Cinematic Affect