Marshall McLuhan was a Canadian scholar who had an area of focus in medium theory. His idea that “the medium is the message” is his most famous. Since his death in 1980, technology has advanced considerably making the variety of today’s media increasingly vast compared to the media of his time (Wolf 2004). Nonetheless, his theories can still apply to modern media. Netflix, a provider of on demand Internet media, specifically movies and televisions shows, is one of these new media. His theory of hot and cold media can apply to it, where Netflix as a hot medium, if not used sensibly, can affect one’s perception of the world negatively.
All media absorb the senses to some degree. McLuhan 's hot and cold media determines to which degree certain
One of the key features to look for when buying headphones is noise cancellation, the ability to block out other unwanted sounds (eBay 2014). Therefore, if they are decent quality headphones, watching Netflix with headphones allows their auditory input will remain completely consumed. Additionally, McLuhan believed that cinematic movies were a hot medium because theatres are in the dark, this way there is no other light distracting from the brightness of the screen accepting it to be the main focus (McLuhan 1964, 7) The same effect can apply to whichever screen Netflix is being used on; darkness only enhances the visual experience. Nevertheless, being in an environment where Netflix can completely consume the senses, such as watching it alone, in a dark room, with headphones on, it “hot[s]-up” these senses even more, increasing their absorption level (McLuhan 1967, 35) If a user allows this, they are then living in their own world, a closed bubble, where there is no room for critical reflection. This leaves them alone with their own views, which can skew one’s perception of the world (Johnson 2011). In addition, “hotting-up” the senses has ways of prolonging the time spent in their own world as well (McLuhan 1964,
This effect of "hypnosis" has already depicted itself through Netflix subscribers in the form of binge watching. Binge watching is "the practice of watching multiple episodes of a television program in rapid succession" (Wikipedia 2015). Sixty-one percent of the sixty million Netflix subscribers binge watch television shows every few weeks (Smith 2015). The hypnosis that comes with certain hot media could play a role in these statistics. While under a hypnotic trance, one is "highly responsive to suggestion or direction" (Wikipedia 2015). On Netflix, after finishing one episode of a program, it has a direct link that starts the next one, and even if one is does not click it, it automatically starts after thirty seconds (Netflix 2013). Being under hypnosis while watching a television show makes it harder to resist the link for the next episode, making it easy to binge watch. Binge watching takes up a lot of time, as an average season for a television show nowadays is 10 hours (Ryan 2011). This lengthens the time spent in isolation, which can worsen self-centred perceptions (Johnson
Media, the plural form of medium, describes various ways in which we communicate in society. A phone call, email, radio, computer, news on TV, etc. are all forms of media. In our society today, the media plays a significantly large role in influencing society negatively, twisting one’s perspective of the truth. In author Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine, she discusses how media is looked at as an “influencing machine,” that’s controlling the mind of its viewers. Throughout the reading, Gladstone guides her readers through perceptions of media and how it influences them to get readers to understand the truth about media and the manipulation behind it.
Everyone is in a consumer’s hypnosis, even if you think you are not. When you go to a store and pick one brand over the other, you are now under their spell. Spell/hypnosis is how companies get you to buy things over other companies and keep you hooked. Either through commercials or offering something that you think will make your life better by what they tell you. For example, you go to the store and you need to buy water, once you get to the lane and look, there are 10 different types of water you can buy.
Newspaper, radio, film, television. These are only a few of the various forms media can take. From the moment we open our eyes to the instant we shut them, we are surrounded by media and absorb the information it hurls at us in an osmosis-like manner. The news ranges from the latest terror attack and political scandals to supposed UFO sightings and scandals involving sandals. We as an audience tend to focus more on the message the media relays rather than on the medium in which it is presented to us. “What?” is asked more than “How?” The key claim Marshall McLuhan makes in his book, The Medium is the Massage, is that the form of media influences how the message is perceived. Let’s illustrate this with a scenario: it’s eight o’clock in the morning.
Netflix is one of the most successful companies in the 21st Century, they have changed the entertainment business is such a profound way that it can never be the same again. It has many utopian effect and interpersonal Netflix brings so much value to the user that it has been set apart in a new category. It delivers to the user any movie or TV show they could ever want at the click of a button, they give more option for entertainment then every before offered at a price that cannot be beaten. Netflix’s extremely inexpensive costs along with their plethora of option blows away all competition and without a doubt makes it the best interpersonal option for all consumers. Netflix is an
The ideas put forth in Marshall McLuhan's Media Hot and Cold, present many theories regarding the effects of media on the world. What qualifies as media, in essence, is any experience or information, imparted on the awareness of an individual and/or societies. These can be physical or nonphysical influences. TV and radio are examples of physical media. Their effects and evolution can be easily observed. However, and perhaps more importantly, McLuhan examines those nonphysical influences which can be observed in the individual and society. It is not enough to merely identify these mediums as such. What is more crucial is the perpetual waxing and waning of influence of such ineffable phenomena, whose identity and existence rely upon their interdependency
Presently 98% of the households in the United States have one or more televisions in them. What once was regarded as a luxury item has become a staple appliance of the American household. Gone are the days of the three channel black and white programming of the early years; that has been replaced by digital flat screen televisions connected to satellite programming capable of receiving thousands of channels from around the world. Although televisions and television programming today differ from those of the telescreens in Orwell’s 1984, we are beginning to realize that the effects of television viewing may be the same as those of the telescreens.
The definition of corporate culture is the beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company 's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions (Fisher). A culture of a company can very it can be fun and relaxing or uptight and all about business what ever it is the way the company does everything from how they sell their products to how you are expected to work . A lot of people think of Google when they think of place that has good employee culture, but all the extravagant things that they offer doesn’t mean that that is the only thing that makes for a good employee culture. For example the human resource department at Netflix is more typical not offering any nap times or special foods but it offers things on a
The media play an indispensable role in modern life, and are considered amongst the most powerful and inaccurate sources of social information, education and entertainment. Our mass media is an electronic (TV, film, video, videogames, internet) visually dominated media with print (newspaper, magazine)...
People have been participating in it for decades and it still has yet to solely create any extreme negative consequences. Binge watching allows people to escape from their world and transport themselves into another. It relieves us of stress, and provides us with aspirations, inspiration, and instant gratification. The practice offers insight into the importance of television as means of communication, and the development of enhanced social connections. Binge viewing can also connect communities, generations, and society as a whole; it doesn’t cause the fragmentation of cultural unification, as some believe. Rather, binge watching unites us all in this newly digitized world and it should be seen as a culturally progressive tool; a tool, which we can use to continue to shape the future of our cultural identity in this space and time today. “Now to just move away from the negative connotations of 'binge ' - maybe 'celebration watching ' would be better” (Giuffre
Marshall McLuhan and Raymond Williams, both cornerstones in their respected media theory and cultural studies, differed in their opinions of the relationship between media technology and social change. McLuhan believed in technological determinism, which is “an approach that identifies technology, or technological developments, as the central causal element in processes of change” (Croteau, Hoynes, and Milan 290). In other words, McLuhan believes that new technology drives the way cultural values and social structures develop. He was interested in the cultural effects produced by electronic media; he was especially interested in the effects of televisions. McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage argued that technology has changed the way humans do things and interact, that “all media are extensions of some human faculty” (McLuhan 5).
Currently, our society is changing again with the onslaught of electric media, namely computers and the Internet. We must continue to analyze this technology with the realization that the medium is the message, or else we will never fully understand our culture or the effect of technology on it and on our lives.
Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix headquartered in Los Gatos, CA, began the company’s operations in 1997 after receiving an enormous late charge from a movie rental he returned long overdue. However, Hastings had the desire to be different than traditional movie outlets; whereas, customers had to drive to the location, pay a certain amount for each movie they rented, and were given a deadline in which to return the movie. Instead of using a method established by other video markets “to attract customers to a retail location, Netflix offered home delivery of DVDs through the mail” which eventually led to a booming business towards streaming forms of entertainment (Shih, Kaufman, & Spinola, 2009, p. 3). Today, Netflix exists along with several competitors; however, offers the most streaming content available for viewing, and continues to grow its subscriber base both domestically and globally. Although, direct and indirect competitors, acquisition costs, and several barriers present a financial threat for Netflix, the company has managed to grow with the acclamation of partnerships, expand to international territories, and vastly increase its price in shares of stock.
Netflix is a successful company providing in home DVD and streaming movie rentals for a flat monthly fee. The company has experienced success and failures in their daily operations as a result of internal and external company factors that are the key in determining in the success of any operation. The company has been competitive in the industry by adopting product differentiation strategies making them a more diverse and accessible business (Gada, K. 2013). They initiated a delivery services that ensured the subscribers ability to access to movies as fast as possible. Through the volume of subscribers, the company has received numerous peer reviews and comments that enabled the company to increase sales and customer satisfaction.
Television has become one of the major entertainment providers in our modern life. It sits in the living room of about almost every home in the world and it is the one thing that most people like to come home to after a long day of work or school. Not only does it give us something to laugh or get scared at but it also provides us with valuable information about what is happening around our local community and around different places in the world. But, as good as this sounds, Television may be affecting us without even realizing it. Being one of the major distractors in today 's society, it gets us attached to its content in which a lot of people spend a lot of their time watching. Being thus, watching too
One of the physiological effects of watching television in excessive amounts is eye-strain. It is true that there are specifications for watching television; television should be 5 m. away from the eye, the room should be adequately lit, television should be placed at the same height with our eyes, etc. However, these do not prevent our eyes from getting tired if we keep watching television for a long time. Another effect is obesity, which is widely observed in people who like watching television and eating snacks everyday (there is even a term “television snacks” to refer to fast food that is suitable for eating in front of the television). television is such a powerful machine that people cannot get away from it – it is addictive. Apart from the physiological effects, television also causes psychological effects. One is a result of being exposed to