Timo Mcluhan's Contemporary Research

Contemporary Research and Relevance

In spite of the fact that McLuhan 's theories were cultivated during the 1960’s, where it was the milieu of major technological changes, the supremacy of his ideas prevail as it continues to hold sway when applied in written scholarly works to underline the implemented effects of media and communication technology to reorganise and shape not only an individuals methodology, but also that of the collective human association and activity that make up the social whole. Timo P, Kylmala in his works of ‘Medium, the human condition and beyond (2012)’ emphasises the notion mediatisation, in communication terms, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries juxtaposed with mediatisation today, proving “McLuhan’s notions

Comor’s (2013) literature uses media technology to discuss maintaining global responses through the application of McLuhan 's theory that ‘the medium is the message.” As the 21st century citizens are aware of the digital age, technology has made its way into foreign policy where its utilisation provides a framework to regulate governmental structures. Comor underlines that the shift to “the use of digital technologies was an attempt to empower people” (Comor, 2013, pg. 4), providing democrats with the extensive ability to give feedback and voice their knowledge given the opportunity from the media. However, as these media technologies are able to perform as extensions to the human voice, it also challenges the idea that technology is advantageous as individuals lose a sense of control over their spatial abilities and their cognition. As the media exists in a virtual cyberspace, it is not bounded by spatial arrangements, and is used as an extension of man to the human aptitude, it impacts society by “affects … humanity’s sense of space and time, and … their influence is profound largely because we are unaware of these effects (Comor, 2013, pg. 13). Comor’s analysis of the medias impact on fundamental structures of humanity emphasises its abilities to reorganise “how human beings relate to one another and

McLuhan theorises that “new applications of electricity taught people to rearrange their perceptions of the world in ways convenient to the protocols of cyberspace” (McLuhan, 1964, pg. xi-xii). Articulating that the medium of cyberspace, produced by electronic access through technology and media, is a priority by which we organise our cognisance around demonstrates the extent to which contemporary media has on our lives. As Marshall McLuhan speaks of media cultures during 1960’s society, his ideas thus pertain to the milieu of 20th century however, as discussed above, recent scholarly work up to present time relate to his ideas in explaining contemporary media by way of his aphorisms that are able to characterise its impacts. His work verbalises the influences of media in restructuring individuals and eventually their society however his comprehensiveness of the effects of media silhouettes the transformed conditions all sorts of technology, whether it functions tend to all extensions of man or whether it aids a singular facet of the human faculty. For instance, the ‘old medium’ of cable television serves as an extension of an individual’s sense of sight, allowing far visibility for multiple views of worldly occurrences whereas the newly introduced 21st century tablet supplies extensions to a multiplicity