McLuhan used a model with four elements surrounding the term MEDIUM. Touching on the four elements, describe how this model can help us in interpreting social media.
McLuhan's model asks four questions:
1. What does the medium enhance? In this case, medium means social media. Social media enhances conversation and the speed at which connections and communications can happen. Information can be passed instantaneously, whereas before, there could be hours, days, weeks, even months before information was received.
2. What does the medium make obsolete? Social media makes face to face interaction and conversation obsolete because the convenience of being able to send someone an Instant Message or an email is much more appealing then waiting to call someone or meet them in person to discuss something. Some people find this lazy, while others enjoy the convenience.
3. What does the medium retrieve that had been obsoleted before? It can help reconnect people with others from their past.
4. What does the medium flip into when pushed to the extremes? Privacy is pushed to the extremes because it makes people extra protective as to what they put out on the internet.
This model helps show how social media impacts not just the way people interact and communicate these days, but as well, the effect it has on other forms of media, such as television. Previously, people depended on media outlets such as television and radio to get their news, whereas now, they are able to not just receive information faster by using the internet and social media, but as well, they can contribute themselves.