First off, this is my first blog ever, so bear with me as I learn how to ‘blog.’ I’ve never had an interest in blogging, so I hope I’m doing it correctly.

What do I think of when I hear “the medium is the message (or mass|age)?” …Wtf does that even mean? It almost sounds like something that came out of Donald Trump’s mouth and everyone is just thinking “…WHAT?!” The medium is the message reminds me of the cyber galaxy world and everything that is intertwined within it, whereas ‘the medium is the message’ simply just confuses me.

When I think ‘message’, images of a galaxy of media cosmology [insert alien and space ship emoticon] come to mind. I think of human beings having a cyber robot inside them – someone that may different from who they are in real life. This can be seen as media as an extension of ourselves where we can express opinions (good or bad), feelings, etc. online and we can even do it anonymously depending what web environment you are in. The medium as a process of our time, as McLuhan says, is constantly changing, which means our lives are impacted daily by new inventions, practices, technology, etc. Some of it may be good, some of it may be bad, and that reminds me of massage because you either get a good or bad massage…or none at all. For example, if a new piece of technology comes out and it impacts you negatively, that’d be a bad massage.

The Medium Is The Message

This book changes the way I think about media in a unique way. I already admitted that this book was confusing to read and I did not fully absorb it [insert confused emoticon] compared to others, but it has allowed me view media as a necessity in our lives and without it, we are almost not up-to-date with current events, news, what our friends and family are up to, or even what is on sale at Safeway. If I gave up media, I would be completely lost because I rely on it for everything – work, staying in contact with people, entertainment, the news, and even writing this blog. As the term goes on, I’m certain this book will make much more sense.

All these mediums have a crazy way of almost controlling me in the sense that I need it in order to survive. For myself, Facebook is a medium that I rely on heavily and is a part of my daily life. Not only do I use it for personal, but also work to always update people on upcoming events, awards, and news. Facebook is the most popular social media tool and it affects us more than we know. How many of have Facebook open while reading this? Could you go one day or even one week without it? I have a friend who permanently deleted her Facebook in the past year, and my first response was “whoa, really? [insert shocked emoticon] Why? How will you stay updated to events around UBC?” Now I realize I am so absorbed into Facebook events, I cannot live without it. How will I know about the next beer event if I delete it!? #craftbeer. It is interesting to see how all my interests are tracked by Facebook and events related to that all appear in one medium: my Facebook news feed. Half a year later now, and my friend still doesn’t have Facebook and I can tell I am the one always telling her about events going on whereas she doesn’t even know they exist – what does that say about media cosmology? Fragmentation and division. This reminds me of McLuhan’s quote: “all media work us over completely (35).” Although some people are not on Facebook (or other social media), they still have some connection to the medium – either through texting, television, Skype, or simply getting information from someone else who is ‘online.’ This proves we all have our own media environment and fit as we all react differently to mediums. #alwayspresent…

…Now that I got my Facebook break, I’ll continue writing this Something I’m curious about is the time which this book was written #thisbookisold. I think of history during that time, and even today, how technology, past and present has shaped the perspectives of everyone and everything, whether it’s a review on those blue teddy bear hair vitamins every celebrity has been endorsing or a minority group. This made me think “how (if at all) did this book have an effect on reader’s opinions of Indigenous peoples?” It is important to be critical of this text (any many others) in order to bring out new conversations and ‘debug’ some of his ideas.

Back to McLuhan and Loft…McLuhan being the colonialist thinker and white male that he is raises some concerns for me. What bothered me most was his views were one-sided and he ignored the other side of modernization and capitalism. For example, when he talks about the railway as creating a new wave of social development, it was aimed at white people and I sense the tone that he thinks the past is the past; therefore, what is important is only the future (i.e.: page 72-73 of old carriage). Loft really helped me understand this book better. I doubt I would have even seen the problems without his article. I had never thought about this book through a Western lens, which reminds me of our individual ‘research lens’ and biases, and how different or similar our opinions on everyday issues are based on our influences. McLuhan is sorta like that typical white male who thinks he knows, but isn’t quite there yet. I’m sure we all know a few of those…

2 parts of Loft really stood out to me: 1) when he talks about the wampum belt as a symbol of “living” promises, treaties, etc. I find it interesting when he explains it as a living entity that continues to be prominent today, but I often think about it as something that is seen a lot in academia. Not to say it’s not important, but I don’t think the idea of a wampum belt would be the same in today’s age. How would those promises be performed today? What if there was a web-based wampum belt where parties wrote down and signed an agreement on the web on a virtual belt?

2) Cyberspace as a networked territory instantly reminds me of ownership of land. The Crown ‘owns’ First Nation’s land like Google owns Youtube. Well, Google seems to own everything these days. This is similar to McLuhan’s quote: “the interplay between the old and the new environments creates many problems and confusions (68).” We claim territories in different ways now; through our personalized websites, Instagram, etc., but in reality, that company still ‘owns’ what you’ve posted.