We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us.

Marshall McLuhan 212 likes Like We become what we behold. 1 With these words on the first page of Understanding Media published in 1964, Marshall McLuhan burst onto the intellectual scene with his most influential book. Marshall McLuhan tags: humorous 244 likes Like Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers. After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding (McLuhan 3). The saying is often used in the context of media thought to be very influential on society, including forms of media that are thought to have changed-or to have the potential to change-how people experience the world.įor example, the expression may be used in the context of discussion of the social media platform Twitter and how its limitations on the character count of posts influences the way people communicate and perceive messages contained in those posts. Showing 1-30 of 137 I dont necessarily agree with everything that I say. In very simple terms, the expression implies that the form of communication being used-book, podcast, social media post, etc.-will affect the perception of the message that it delivers in some way (even, perhaps, if the same message is communicated with different media).

The medium is the message is an expression coined by Canadian educator and theorist Marshall McLuhan that is often interpreted to mean that the forms and methods (the “media”) used to communicate information have a significant impact on the messages they deliver (including the meanings and other perceptions about those messages).

Marshall mcluhan 1964