Changes in modes of communication have important consequences for the society according to Medium theory. According to one of the most well known medium theorists McLuhan, history can be divided into four communication periods. These periods named by oral, writing, printing, and electronic based on the dominant communicational modes. And these modes also differentiate the social organisation and cognition.
Change in the medium points out the change in environment by changing the place of interaction. Alteration in the communication environment effects the social body and organisation as well as the thoughts/ideas and way of thinkings.
According to the “New media: A critical introduction” book (2003) three core thesis derived from the Mc Luhan’s mapping.
- The extension thesis: technology is an “extension of man” (1964)
- The environmental thesis: “the new media are not bridges between man and nature: they are nature” (1969:14)
- The anti-content thesis: “Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication” (1964:1).
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