Concept Summary

Mediums are a form of technology that are used for production, transmission and reception. It is not limited to being just a channel and delivery system for production, content, and those who are sending out the programming. A key fact to remember is that Internet is not something that is global, the exposure a person has to the internet is dependant on where the user is located. In the United States, 87% of the population has access to internet where in Africa for example, only 13.5% of the population can access and afford the internet. Mediums influence and social forces can be viewed on a continuum, Media Determinism, Social Shaping, and Social Determinism. From the view of media determinism, media such as television influence and change a vast majority. From the view of social determinism, it is believed that media are a basic reflective view of those whom use it. Between these two opposites there are views that believe in the mutual interaction between media and those who use it. The relationship between medium and message is famously discussed by three amazing authors. Mcluhan believed in the idea that mediums are the message, this being that Technological infrastructures are inherently important features, and that media is not much more than a distraction from what really matters in the world. Postman believed that the medium is what shapes the message, transforming the content and the message is shaped for the mediums preference in order to properly