Analytical essay example
Communication Mediums
- Subject
- English & Literature
- Type
- Analytical essay
- Citation style
- MLA
- Length
- 7 pages
About this sample
The paper examines McLuhan's view that media and technologies act as extensions of human beings, focusing on the telephone and its modern counterpart, the smartphone. It weighs the social benefits of these extensions against their effects on face-to-face communication, privacy and daily life. The body sections test McLuhan's theory against examples such as phone calls, voice and video calls, and mobile phone use in urban settings.
- McLuhan's media as extensions of humanity
- The telephone and the smartphone as make-happen agents
- Face-to-face versus mediated communication
- Social platforms and community
- Constant connectivity and mobile phone use
How it opens
McLuhan comprehended the media as an extension of human beings. He maintained that we welcome these extensions or adopt them in our frameworks, contributing to new associations with the extensions (McLuhan 45). McLuhan also believed that we have a co-dependent relationship with technology concerning evolution or adjustment. He referred to these extensions as ‘make happen agents’ that rely on us for their interaction and development. The state of the telephone in McLuhan’s time and its current counterpart, the smartphone, were ‘make happen agents’ (McLuhan 48). Still, this extension has evolved due to our development of its state, and it has led to the evolution of social interaction.
Media has influence on people, change the sense of world and media itself. Media as the element in society that changes people's everyday life.
McLuhan had the conviction that humanity has always been captivated and infatuated with their extensions (Holownia). However, he also believed that people preferred to overlook or reduce the amputations. For instance, whereas humanity lauds the benefits of high-speed travel facilitated by a car, it does not want to remember the resultant environmental damage. Moreover, humanity does not want a remembrance of the time it spends in cars secluded from fellow humans, or that the consequent amputations from the vehicle have resulted in obesity and reduced health. Humanity is a civilization that often compliments every extension and reduces every amputation (Holownia). McLuhan had the belief that humanity made these choices at its jeopardy.
The opening section, transcribed from the PDF. The full paper continues below.
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Using an example well
Read it for how the paper is built, not for wording to reuse: how the introduction frames the question, how each paragraph moves from a claim to evidence, and how sources are cited in MLA. Submitting any part of it as your own work would be plagiarism, and it is written for a different brief than yours.
Writing one yourself? Read the guide How to write an essay and the MLA format guide.