The Medium is the Massage
An Inventory of Effects
Marshall McLuhan ; Quentin Fiore ; produced by Jerome Agel

---

Auteur(s)

Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore

Editor(s)

Jerome Agel

Uitgever

San Francisco : Hardwired, 1996

Omvang

160 p., geïllustreerd, 18 cm.

ISBN

188886902X

---

Marshall McLuhan argues that technologies — from clothing to the wheel to the book, and beyond — are the messages themselves, not the content of the medium. In essence, The Medium is the Massage is a graphical and creative representation of his "medium is the message" thesis seen in Understanding Media. By playing on words and utilizing the term "massage," McLuhan is suggesting that modern audiences have found current media to be soothing, enjoyable, and relaxing; however, the pleasure we find in new media is deceiving, as the changes between society and technology are incongruent and are perpetuating an Age of Anxiety. All media work us over completely. They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The Medium is the Massage demonstrates how modern media are extensions of human senses; they ground us in physicality, but expand our ability to perceive our world to an extent that would be impossible without the media. These extensions of perception contribute to McLuhan’s theory of the Global Village, which would bring humanity full circle to an industrial analogue of tribal mentality.

---

Trefwoorden

new media

Locatie in de bibliotheek

Kast 11 - 3: Technologie + Posthumanisme

Opmerkingen

first published in 1967