Throughout Marshal McLuhan's video of "Living in an Acoustic World", there were many times that I felt a bit lost and confused. What I gathered from the video was that McLuhan did not agree with the way our society is developing and continuously changing. At the end of his video he states that, "Americans came to this continent to subdue nature, fast and furious. They tamed it, they subdued it, they crushed it. They turned it into the enemy." I was a bit confused by this statement. Did McLuhan mean that technological developments, such as cellphones, internet and computers, were created as a way for us to subdue nature? If that is the case, then does McLuhan oppose these new advances in our society? I think I struggled with understanding his point of view because this video was dated back forty or more years ago. His point of view may be more clear to me if I was to hear it in terms of today's society.
Another part of McLuhan's speech that made me think he is not in favor of these technological advancements was when he discussed the "end of secrecy." From his speech I understood this to be him thinking this was a negative. I agree with him that the creation of these new technologies does end secrecy. However, in many cases I do not think this is a negative. In the case of government and politics I do not think there should be secrets from the citizens of the country. With secrets being harder to keep we are not left in the dark about as many issues and situations as we were prior to these advancements. In today's society, when people join social media they are giving up a piece of their lives to the public. In my opinion, they opted to end their secrecy to a certain extent. Many people put their entire lives on social media through posts, videos or pictures. However, this was their own decision. It was their personal choice to give that information to the public and to have it no longer be private. People who would like to keep their lives more private tend to not post on social media or do not participate in social media altogether.
I would be very interested to hear McLuhan's point of view of society in today's technologically advanced world. What does he think of new media? Does he think this has a positive or negative impact on our society? It was difficult to relate to what he was saying during his videos because it was during a time that I was not yet born. I do not know the changes that were occurring in our society at that time and how many people felt about those changes. I would also enjoy hearing his thoughts on bringing technology into the classroom. Did anyone get a different message or idea from McLuhan's video? I would love to hear different perspectives. Again, I was confused through parts of it and could have missed some key information!
McLuhan, Marshal. Living in an Acoustic World.
http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/lecture/1970-living-in-an-acoustic-world/
Hi Emily!
ReplyDeleteI also felt very lost during the speech. I am left with so many questions about if I interpreted the information correctly or not. I too want to know what his thoughts would be if he saw all of technology we use today on a daily basis. The time frame must have played an important role in some of his discussion since it was in the 1970's. I wonder if it would make more sense if I had any experience regarding the 70's. Excellent point about secrecy. I could not agree more. I would much rather have all of the direct facts instead of hidden secrets especially regarding the government. I'm curious if this was anywhere near the time of the Watergate scandal?
I am glad to know that it was not just me who was a little confused. I also feel that if I had a little more knowledge about the time period that maybe it would not have been so confusing to me.
DeleteI thought the secrecy topic was interesting in light of social media. I agree there is some control over what we post about ourselves. I personally prefer not to have an real identity online. This is becoming increasingly difficult (for example when blogging is required for a class! or your friend posts a photo of you, or you must submit a forms available only online.) In Networked Publics, Varnelis also noted the blur between self and the internet (Varnelis, p153). I typically feel paranoid about typing any personal information into online forms or using my real name for fear of identity theft. But I am slowly learning to come to terms that our society is a window and "secrets" are next to impossible!
ReplyDeleteAnd in regards to government it may be helpful to know what is happening. Realistically, this will never be a transparent system. This isn't necessarily a negative, if the FBI has a plan to stop a threat- you don't what everyone including the attackers to know their secret plan to disarm.
Varnelis, K., & Annenberg Center for Communication (University of Southern California). (2008). Networked publics. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
I agree with you! I had also considered, while writing my blog, that there are some people who cannot escape the publicity that the internet creates. Such as friends or family posting pictures and such. I do agree that there are areas that make me nervous about sharing my personal information. I do think there could be some safety measure taken there. The internet seems to know a little bit too much about me and sometimes that makes me feel very uneasy. However, I still feel that the benefits of technology still outweigh the negatives. I agree with you about the government. There is information that is best kept a secret. Thankfully, with agencies like the FBI, these are usually able to be kept secret. Thanks for your insights!
DeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! As others have pointed out, I agree that McLuhan's arguments and ideas were abstract, and often difficult to interpret. On top of that, his seemed to bounce all over the place, rather than really explore one aspect of his philosophy in depth. Like you, I was intrigued by his contemplation of a lack of privacy. If he only knew what today's society would look like! He views it as "the end of monopolies of knowledge," but it has gone so far beyond that. As you point out, it would certainly be interesting to hear his perspective on today's educational environment. Did we achieve his vision of "put[ting] the questions in the classroom"?
Dear Emily,
ReplyDeleteGreat job motivating us to dive deeper. Your questions suggested to me to look further into Mr. McLuhan's biography. This has helped me better understand Mr. McLuhan's perspective on teaching new perspectives. It is interesting how his analysis was hard to follow for me too, but Mr. Jenkins' TED Ed talk was hard for me to interpret at first too. McLuhan directly influenced Jenkins, so we can make the assumptions that each felt strongly about convergence in a participatory culture. Jenkins notes that “it matters what tools are available to a culture, but it matters more what the culture chooses to do with the tools (Jenkins 2006, pg. 8).” McLuhan would agree with Jenkins' perspective, since he says "mine is a transformation theory, how people are changed by the instruments they employ (McLuhan 37:40)" Since the "audience has become the actor," as McLuhan tells Tom Wolfe, it would be hard to keep any secrets because the actor already knows the ending of the story.
Resources:
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Television News Is a New Mythic Form
Marshall McLuhan Speaks Special Collection: Living in an Acoustic World
Jenkins, H.J. (2006)., Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century.