Mass Media and Society Final

The Medium is the Message
Marshall McLuhan believed that “the medium is the message.” When most people study mediums and their affect on society they tend to focus more on the content within the medium. This is where McLuhan felt there was a discrepancy. He believed that when wanting to research the affects of a medium on society that regardless of its content the medium would still have the same affects. It is what people do when engaging with a particular medium that must be researched and analyzed. There are certain expectations that are associated with a medium that regardless of its content this expectation will still occur. A medium affects our lifestyle as a society. Whether enhancing it by making things easier or taking away from it by reducing the amount of physical activity we get. So when McLuhan says “the medium is the message” he means take away the content and look specifically at the medium and how it affects our lives. It is what we do as a consequence of the medium’s presence that socially affects us.

Movies and the Web
The message of a movie can be interpreted as many things. One message could be the act of silence that is instilled in us once a movie begins. The fact is that most of us consider a movie a date but hardly any verbal interaction occurs. It is a way to avoid awkward moments between you and another person. A movie is viewed in its entirety and is understood by images and sound. In order to review it, you must watch the entire movie again. Most people watch movies as a form of entertainment because it’s a medium that allows people to tell stories. The web on the other hand has the capability to show a movie but can also do much more than just that. It allows people to have instant access to review anything they wish. The web inspires competition by its ability to post mass amounts of information about different products. It is personal in the aspect that the user controls the content. Reality is that the web is a medium with multiple mediums embedded. We get movies, news feeds, books, newspapers, journals but the message of each medium is entirely different. Which means the web’s message is entirely different than any single medium. The web causes us to expect instant and accurate results. This leads many of us to procrastination because we rely on the instantaneous results from searching online.

Kindle and IPod
The Kindle and IPod are very similar in the fact that they both are portable devices that you download entertainment to. The IPod has been around for a while and most people know that you can download music and videos to this device. Where as, the Kindle, is fairly new but you are able to download full issues of books to the device. These two devices both portray a message of portable entertainment. It is customizable to contain exactly what you would like to hear or read. With these devices you are able to have on demand entertainment that allows you to escape your busy lifestyle. These inventions were created because people have become so mobilized that they want everything to be compacted into one device. Overall these two devices are about personalization and instant purchases. Society has become an “I want what I want, when I want it, and where I want to have it” society and these two devices definitely fit these desires.

Email and Social Networking
Email has become a widespread form of communication in today’s society. The message of email is to be able to communicate with someone with out having to physically see or talk to someone. It eliminates the need for interaction. It allows us to review what we want to say to someone before we send it. I believe that it has caused people to avoid interacting face to face because they fear instant reactions. During a face to face encounter or even via phone you must react instantly to questions or accusations. Where as via email you can read the message on your own time and carefully think of how to respond to someone’s message. Although email is known for being an instant transfer of data, it is not as instant as face to face interaction and therefore allows people to reply to others at their own convenience. The medium has created a less personal but more convenient way of communicating. Social networking can be considered to have similar affects of email. Social networking also eliminates that need for face to face interaction; you can now find your soul mate without ever having to meet them. It may be a place where we reveal more information about ourselves but you are able to hide behind a screen. We can present ourselves in the most desirabe way possible when posting information about ourselves on social sites. It is a form of communication that is both instant and delayed. It again is associated with convenience and when you’re in the mood to socialize. A social networking site is a way for you to inform people about yourself and a way to keep in touch with people.

Newspaper
If I owned a newspaper in today’s current market my priority would be to create a website. Not just make PDF’s of the newspaper and post it online but create an interactive website. I would cater my information toward 40 year old people and younger. The website would have an area for them to write comments to the journalist and editors. I would hire young journalist to report on current news and have several different perspectives for the same issue. I would encourage my staff to add a blog to the website so they can capture an audience. The website would contain live video stream from on site investigation gathered by journalist. I would focus on creating a following and capture people because they liked the style of our reporting. One thing I would like my “newspaper” to report is more stories on local citizens. Whether it was an entrepreneur or a kid doing charity work, I would like everyday for there to be a new story. Once the site became more established I could ask followers to submit suggestions for our local citizen reports. My goal for the website would be to make our customers feel engaged with our product. As for tackling the 40 and up readers, I would lower the price of the newspaper and continue to sell printed copies until the readers have dropped down to 25%. The lower price might also encourage more people to pick up the paper. I would advertise the website in the newspaper telling readers if they would like updated information or if in the future they would like to print a copy of the paper off the website they could. I would be directing all of my readers to the website instead of completely losing them. If advertisers bought ads in the paper I would post their advertisement for free on our website. My goal would be to satisfy my customers and I know the answer currently is not to eliminate the printing press. Eventually I will turn my printing press warehouse into an office space and rent out the building. Most of my staff once we go online will be working from home and therefore an office would not be necessary. Obviously I would keep some space with the proper editing, video, and computer equipment to keep our online website in business.