The medium you use to consume information directs the way you view the world §

Date created: 2022-08-31

When the TV was dominant, we saw the world through a lens of entertainment. Now in the age of social media, we are seeking validation from others:

McLuhan’s view is that mediums matter more than content; it’s the common rules that govern all creation and consumption across a medium that change people and society. Oral culture teaches us to think one way, written culture another. Television turned everything into entertainment and social media taught us to think with the crowd.

Our mediums (TV, smartphones) shape the way our attention is directed and in extension the way we think.

I’ve also learned that patterns of attention — what we choose to notice and what we do not — are how we render reality for ourselves, and thus have a direct bearing on what we feel is possible at any given time. These aspects, taken together, suggest to me the revolutionary potential of taking back our attention.

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References §

• Link to website, bibtex from Zotero or note with book/blog/etc summary