Media is a dynamic institution that reflects the needs, wants, and desires of society. It is constantly developing in rhythm with humans over time to cater to our informative needs. The creation of the internet, then cellphones, and social media portrays the rapid growth and changes of the institution. The 21st century is rapidly advancing and therefore, we cannot guarantee its future but we can predict it. The theories of the ‘hot and cool media’, ‘the global village’, and the ‘narcissism effect’ were all formed by Marshall McLuhan to foretell the future of media when it had just begun to develop. Many years later, the social media application Twitter proves McLuhan’s theories on media are still relevant in present day society.
Twitter …show more content…
McLuhan proposed the theory of ‘narcissus as narcosis.’ He believes that media causes people to become self absorbed but “It is not that one is in love with themselves, but rather one is totally involved with the other self they perceive to be separate that they lose their own being at the cost of it” (McLuhan 1964, 45-53). Media creates a fictional version of the individual yet causes one to believe that it is a true part of their being. Twitter accurately depicts this as many individuals base their self worth on the amount of followers that they have on the social media platform. Users become so consumed by their fictional twitter status that it becomes a part of them. Once taken away it feels as though they are losing a tangible aspect of their being. This is the narcissus as narcosis effect. Twitter is designed to feed our narcissistic needs. The app allows users to post pictures of themselves in order to obtain likes and retweets from their followers. The positive feedback feeds into the user’s ego like a drug persuading the user to continue to post more. The user can then become so self absorbed with their online persona that it becomes an actual part of them. They begin to use twitter as a real measure of status and self worth. With words such as ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ it is believable that the app could have been specifically designed based off McLuhan’s theory of narcissism. Therefore, twitter proves
Twitter …show more content…
McLuhan proposed the theory of ‘narcissus as narcosis.’ He believes that media causes people to become self absorbed but “It is not that one is in love with themselves, but rather one is totally involved with the other self they perceive to be separate that they lose their own being at the cost of it” (McLuhan 1964, 45-53). Media creates a fictional version of the individual yet causes one to believe that it is a true part of their being. Twitter accurately depicts this as many individuals base their self worth on the amount of followers that they have on the social media platform. Users become so consumed by their fictional twitter status that it becomes a part of them. Once taken away it feels as though they are losing a tangible aspect of their being. This is the narcissus as narcosis effect. Twitter is designed to feed our narcissistic needs. The app allows users to post pictures of themselves in order to obtain likes and retweets from their followers. The positive feedback feeds into the user’s ego like a drug persuading the user to continue to post more. The user can then become so self absorbed with their online persona that it becomes an actual part of them. They begin to use twitter as a real measure of status and self worth. With words such as ‘likes’ and ‘followers’ it is believable that the app could have been specifically designed based off McLuhan’s theory of narcissism. Therefore, twitter proves