Medium Theory

Early writings on medium theory focus on the transition from primitive oral communication to written communication. The theory argues that writing transforms the meaning of words and lessens their vitality. The central proposition of medium theory is that the vehicle of communication itself has a significant influence on the nature and content of human communication.

Probably the most famous practitioner of medium theory is Marshall McLuhan. In the 1960s, McLuhan published a series of well-publicized books that brought worldwide attention to him as someone with a profound understanding of media and their impact on society. These works elaborated on the central principles of medium theory. Using the medium theory framework, McLuhan synthesized many diverse ideas. Drawing on critical cultural theory, such as political economy, the most central idea of his theory is that communication technology individually produces change in both cultural and social order.

In The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962), McLuhan discusses shifts in society from the print revolution, to the Industrial Revolution, to electronic media. According to McLuhan, the invention of movable type greatly accelerated and ultimately enabled cultural and cognitive changes that had already been taking place since the invention and implementation of the alphabet. The advent of print technology contributed and made possible the trends in the modern world such as individualism, capitalism democracy, Protestantism, and nationalism. New communication technology (alphabetic writing, printing press, electronic media) affect both cognition and social organization. McLuhan felt that electronic communications would move society from individualism to a collective understanding of the world in what he described as a “global village.”

Based on the notion that ever-changing technologies shape the way messages are communicated, another important concept of medium theory is that of figure and ground. The basic premise is that the content of any medium is another medium. When a new medium is created, it will eventually overtake the medium from which it evolved. Thus, the older medium becomes a ground upon which the new medium is the figure. The old medium loses its original content and becomes the content of the new medium. Each medium, independent of its content, has its own effects, which are its unique message.

Medium theory also is intrinsically linked to the McLuhan aphorism, “The medium is the message.” This concept was first laid out in Understanding Media (1964) and later in The Medium Is the Massage (1967). Here McLuhan explained that it was the medium and not the content itself that should be the focus of mass communication studies. Thus, what we say may not be as important as how we choose to deliver it.

McLuhan believed that the message is greatly impacted by the delivery system and by an individual's participation with that medium. He hypothesized that [Page 449]the degree of participation an individual must exert to experience media content varies by medium. He placed individual media into two categories “hot” and “cold” media. He explained that some media, such as movies, are “hot.” Hot media demand a great deal of attention from the participant. They are well filled with data and offer a “high-definition” experience. The “hotter” the medium, the less the participant needs to interpret what is presented. Other media are “cold.” For example, a comic book requires more conscious participation on the part of the individual. The user must fill in the missing information. McLuhan considered this a “lowdefinition” experience. Thus, the “cooler” the medium, the more the participant must engage in the medium both mentally and emotionally.

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