Final : THEME 4

According to Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory, the impact a certain media will have on the public is determined by the manner in which individuals interact and communicate with one another as well as how the mass media interacts with individuals. It does not matter what the actual information is or what the point is, the manner by which you receive information is what matters. Different means of receiving points will determine how it affects us. Varying technologies and methods of transmitting information allow us to receive and interpret content in different ways. Facebook and Twitter, for example, have completely changed the manner in which people all over the world communicate with each other. Using these social networks, people on different continents can have instantaneous contact and information sharing is now faster than ever. Now people can be aware of what friends or family are doing at practically any point in the day if they have a twitter. These social networking sites have revolutionized the way we communicate with each other and also how individuals interact with each other. Most people now would much rather contact someone through Facebook or Twitter than actually call one another or meet up. It is also seen more and more often that we begin to take on the qualities of the "intellectual technologies" we use. Again referring to Twitter and Facebook, they allow us to communicate with people instantaneously. Immediate results are viewed and people all over the world find it convenient and are hooked. As mentioned in the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, this need for immediate results is spilling over into other activities we perform. ( http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/ ) Some people, such as the writer in this article, feel that their minds and thought processes are indeed changing. In regards to reading, the author finds himself impatient with lengthy articles or books when previously, he would not have a hard time sitting and reading the information. His attention span is shorter and he gets fidgety after a certain amount of time is devoted to reading a piece. His concentration level has decreased and reading more than two or three pages has become a struggle. For this inability to focus and read for long, the author blames the internet. He mentions that obtaining information that before could only be learned by reading lengthy books is now so much easier; all you have to do is Google it and your results are summarized and ready for you in a matter of seconds. It’s completely understandable how our thought processes are changing; they are diminishing our concentration span, our patience to learn something and our ability to put effort into obtaining new information.