On extensions and amputations

I kept thinking on this notion and went on to read McLuhan extra references for the class. Todd Kappelman in “Marshall McLuhan: ‘The Medium is he Message’”* addressed the idea of extensions and amputations in McLuhan’s work. The idea is that every new tool (technolgoy) brings benefits but also limitations that can impact society directly or indirectly. In the article Kappleman analyzes how cars have change the way we live.

I will like to consider consumerism. Up to what point people go out shopping and buy things they really don’t need? Up to what point people fill their houses of gadgets and instruments they don’t really use? The media has made them indispensable. I wonder how many people stop to think if what they have already is good enough to do what they do; and how many go out and get the new version of a product or the new gadget just because it is out there.

We could say that media has a lot to do with it, but I wonder if teaching children to follow the rules, to mainly drill and practice, and not to think critically is part of this problem. Thinking critically implies thinking in different alternatives or options, in consequences, something that might not be that good for those in power. A nation that is geared toward consumerism will always need something; will always want to buy something, without really acknowledging if its something they really need. And sadly enough will always owe a lot of money, limiting their possibilities of making changes and improving themselves. People do what media tells them to do. And that is really scary.

* Kappleman, Todd. (n.d.). "Marshall McLuhan: 'The Medium is the Message'". Retrieved September 24, 2003, from Leadership U Web Site, http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/mcluhan.html#.

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E-mail: mortizro@ufl.edu