COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Marshall McLuhan once claimed that modern communications technologies transformed the world into a global village. Is it true?



Marshall McLuhan once claimed that modern communications technologies transformed the world into a global village. Is it true?

Introduction

Our civilization is dominated by the media. Television, radio, print, and lately the computer network and Internet have allowed humans to shorten the gap and has led to more and more individuals becoming aware of events occurred across the world. Today the events of contemporary society have spread so rapidly, even in the same moment they are happening. An example is the direct landing on the moon in the late sixties, the Gulf War, the small robot on Mars in 1997 and the latest shocking events surrounding the bombing of the Twin Towers (Twin Towers in Manhattan) in New York.

To understand the role of modern communications technologies on contemporary society, it is imperative to turn towards the notion of a globalised world and progressive reconfiguration process of political, cultural, economic, social and ideological boundaries. In a global world, the flow of people, capital goods, information and technology has become increasingly free, thus redefining the classical ideas of traditional territoriality and temporality. The idea brought forth by technological advancements is a binding mechanism and is manifested in all social relations and logical actions.

Discussion

Marshall McLuhan and the Global Village

Media guru Marshall McLuhan was certainly accurate about his future projection of electronic technology and the size of the impact it would have in the world. The mass media have truly revolutionized the world of communications while infringing the privacy of individuals, changing their knowledge, their habits and their way of thinking. This has undoubtedly led to advantages and positive aspects, but there are also negative factors: the massification of culture. Now it seems that reality is only which is mediated by television, so we are increasingly addicted culture of images that the press and TV, to arouse interest in the individual, have featured the sensational. Moreover, being constantly bombarded by news and views that filter through the mass media, individuals may lose the ability to be critical of events, the risk of thinking and speaking the same language of the mass media. Besides all these have had sociological and behavioural repercussions.

McLuhan was the first person to popularize the concept of a global village and consider its social effects; little would he have known that ten years after his death, the World Wide Web will be invented and his prophecy will be fulfilled and exceed expectations (Wright 1978, pp. 196-207). He provided the foundation of thought about media, technology, and communication. Today technology has provided a way for people to search and reach any sort of information within seconds, people from different continents can see each other via chat room and web cameras, blogs and news are available instantly for anyone that has access to the internet.

According to McLuhan, humankind will move from individualism to a fragmentation of collective identity in the new age, thus developing ...