McLuhan's analysis of history places us in the electronic/digital age. He says that we are starting to revert to our original dominant sensor, which was hearing. I think that we are more in the digital age and are reverting to the "touch" sensor. People aren't necessarily talking on the phone, they are sending text messages, posting on line and using Facebook and Myspace. This is definitely the age of touch. There are some ways that hearing is still dominant, for one, listening and speaking work much better during team play on XBox live. Things that require speed are much more efficient using sound. The following clip is a history of how the cell phone is shaped. but the reason i picked this clip was to show some of the statistics is has on it.
This clip shows the transformation of the cell phone through the electronic age starting in 1985 and working its way up. This supports his claim that the hearing sense is returning and making us tribal again. However, there is this thing called text messaging. Around 1:59 in the clip one of the blurbs said "17 Billion text messages were sent worldwide in 2000. 250 billion in 2001, 500 billion in 2004, and 1.9 trillion in 2007... I think with the amount of texts flying around that we are not in the tribal age again, but we hit it briefly and are now in a completely different age using touch as our main sensor. We do it this with facebook and myspace websites, this enables us to stay in contact with people much easier. This new age is all about the words on the page.
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I think that in a number of ways our society overlaps all of the ages that McLuhan discusses in regards to his Media Ecology theory. I think that for the most part we are in the Electronic and Digital Ages, seeing as we have so much instant communication with one another nowadays, through the growing technologies, including cell phones, as discussed by McLuhan. But I agree with Matt that we are reverting back to the Tribal Age to because of our sense of hearing, considering that with video games, cell phones, and so on, our ears are needed. I think it is sad that our society has gotten away from the literary and print ages, because the use of books and written documents has become less and less popular over the decades. People want a quick answer nowadays, and because of this, they become lazy and therefore, do not want to take the time to pick up a book or newspaper. It is funny that much of what is important in terms of reading nowadays is the latest gossip on Myspace or Facebook, but that is what our society has turned to for entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Matt and Sarah in their thoughts of where we are in accordance to McLuhan's theory. We have reverted back to the tribal age with the use of many technologies, which according to McLuhan, are human inventions that enhance communication. Even with the eye-catching statistics given on text messages sent above, actually speaking on the phone still a major part here. But overall, I do think that we are more so in the electronic age, looking to move onto the digital age. Perhaps too much too soon?
ReplyDeletei agree with everything that has been said so far. and if there was ever a time to be considerd the digital age it would be today. we are able to buy digital music through sources like itunes. dvd are digital copies of the movies we watch and now they even have the ablity to take the movie and digital transfer it on your computer and mp3 player. even though there might be new technology that we have yet to discover i believe that we are in the digital age.
ReplyDeleteI think cell phones specifically touch on multiple ages. When you answer a phone call or listen to a voicemail you're making use out of the Tribal Age. When you read a text message you're a part of the The Age of Literacy. Now with the iPhone and other similar devices you're able to view the internet and watch things like youtube videos you're a part of the Electronic Age. However it's all rolled into one device and we continue to evolve which I think is what brings us to the Digital Age.
ReplyDeleteMatt raises a good point-touch is a huge part of our lives now. I would agree that with the increasing usage of things like the iPhone, text messages, facebook, etc our sense of touch is increasing. I know with my own cell phone I know longer have to look at the phone to text message because my thumbs have memorized where each character is located and how many times I have to press the button to receive the word I want. But still, our sense of touch is not evolving very rapidly. We only touch the keys on a keyboard or the buttons on a cell phone.