Marshall McLuhan: The Medium is the Message – a good theorist to quote in your exam.

“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication” (p. 8: 1967)

For many the role of technology is actually the most defining aspect of Media, for example Marshall McLuhan proposed in 1964 that the Medium was the message, or as he deliberately titled his book ‘The Media is the Massage’.  In other words, the medium (the technology) is more significant than anything else in determining meaning ie over companies, organisations, governments, individuals, representations, texts etc etc

Technological determinism – your biology and society is predetermined by the medium at which you are receiving the message