Medium as the Message

Communication is always occurring. Whether through verbal interpersonal interactions or intrapersonal thought, rarely is life void of communication. But, as McLuhan addresses, the medium of each message creates a different meaning for the message. In the basic communication model, a message is sent from the sender to the receiver through some medium. Often, the focus of communication studies is on the dynamic between the sender and the receiver, with the medium becoming little more than a gateway between the two. McLuhan’s theory, asks us to consider not just the aspects of the model standard in communication study, but the actual medium itself.

Though he makes a strong point with the aspect of light, I found myself thinking of language as an example of a medium that affects the message. With fluency in two languages, I’ve learned that there are certain things that may be expressed in English that when translated into Spanish take on a different meaning. Even when we communicate with someone not fluent in our first tongue, we interpret the message differently based on accents and lack of fluency with the language. From day to day, the prejudice passed when interacting with those struggling with a language is apparent. Their intelligence suddenly becomes a point of question simply because they cannot communicate messages in ways that seem. McLuhan, throughout his article seems to be eluding more to the technological advances that have re-shaped
how we interact.

Though language as medium has been in existence for as long as humans have existed, I think that it’s an important point to revisit. From the moment that humans began interacting, we have created symbols and words to signify objects in the world around us. However, we can never truly understand one another because we retain different perceptions of what these symbols mean. For years, this has been a point of discussion, from Plato’s theory of forms to Sapir and Wharf, but we find yet again that language and symbols are merely just a medium to another message.