Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the concepts Marshall McLuhan writes about.
In “The Medium is the Massage“ he wrote:
“All media are extensions of some human faculty- psychic or physical.”
So today I was pondering can the majority of our electronic technology be an extension of the human race’s struggle with narcissism?
If so, how then might the story of Narcissus be prophetic in dealing with our infatuation with electronic technology? Would one or could one, deal with an obsession with electronic technology in the same way one deals with narcissism?
Tags: electronic technology, Marshall McLuhan, media, Narcisscism, Naricissus
07.11.2008 at 3:09 AM
I’ve only just started reading that book. Interesting so far. It’ll take me a while as i’m reading quite a few books at once these days and the non-fiction always move slowest.
So, how does one deal with narcissism? A broadening of perspective by a broadening of experience perhaps? Or by becoming dependent on others? The former might help de-gadget some folks, not sure about the latter.
I always suspected the attraction and power of electric and digital technology being rooted in the rather different arenas of distraction and convenience. Convenience being often but not always self-centered, and distraction being a twisted medicate-self-by-forgetting-self.
07.11.2008 at 3:31 AM
Good point about distraction, but I have a hard time not seeing convenience as not being self-centered all the time.
I just started reading “Understanding Media” by McLuhan. It will be a tougher read than “The Medium is the Massage,” but ultimately more interesting and more informative.