Marshall McLuhan

While it is amazing the resources and information that is at our fingertips at a moments notice, Carr refers to Marshall McLuhan who pointed out in the 1960’s that “media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought.” (315). So the question then comes to mind can the Internet really change how…

5. What could you have done differently during our lobbying exercise to ensure the opposite outcome? 5. For the lobbying exercise, my role was Diane Schwier, an aggregate inspector with the ministry of natural resources. In order to change the outcome of the quarry not being built I and the other Diance Schwier could have done more advocating against the quarry. As a part of provincial government, we could have talked with other provincial government peoples about why we should vote against it…

“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter,” said Abraham Lincoln in a speech on May 19, 1856 in Illinois. However, with a world that is vastly more connected than the world in 1856, we can digitally connect the American public with those politicians who represent them in hopes to create a more informed American citizen. With this increased connectivity, we need to have a conversation about the proper uses of technologies, including the time and the…

Over the last few decades, technology has advanced and continuously changed the way individuals contribute to society. From flip phones to smart phones, desktop computers to tablets, the advancements in these devices not only save us time in our day to day lives, they are also the reason we forget to acknowledge the non-technical objects that still surround us. Books, shopping carts and clocks have been replaced by iPods, touch screen watches and the “click to checkout” button. Most children now…

A Critical Review of Is Google Making Us Stupid? Nicolas Carr is a well-known writer and technology critic. Among his works is ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid?’, a magazine article published in the Atlantic Monthly in the summer of 2008. The article examines the effect of the Internet and google on brain functioning. Carr questions whether high amounts of Internet use is a detriment to one’s ability to concentrate. While he does little to conclusively prove the article’s central theme, his line of…

Outline the main criticisms of the cultural imperialism thesis made by media globalisation theorists. Are these criticisms valid? Introduction With the “intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Giddens,1990, p.64), it has become a norm to expect restaurants such as McDonalds and Starbucks to be available in almost every corner of the world, from Mecca in Saudi…

books symbolizes a death of individuals being burned by governmental regulating their lives to meaninglessness. Many other authors had input about Bradbury’s choice in not only writing a novel based on a futuristic dystopian society, but in his execution and reasoning. Infamous dystopic novels are compared to Bradbury’s due to their criticism of society by using outlandish tales that have a deeper meaning. While some characters, such as Mildred and Captain Beatty, in the novel love the world…

emotions. It is also important to point out that placing the blame solely on the internet, and not acknowledging that there are other factors that may contribute to this problem, is a bit of a reach. Carr cites different sources, such as theorist Marshall McLuhan and psychologist Maryanne Wolf, to give his statements some credibility. These people are well-respected and add effective facts to this opinionated article. Alongside these men and women, he also references a few of his friends. This…

Brigham Anderson was but one of many gay characters to commit suicide because of their inability to accept themselves for what they were. But what about films in which gay characters are martyred, indirectly? Queue the 1980’s AIDS pandemic. Along with AIDS being touted as the “gay disease” came films, such as Norman René’s Longtime Companion and Johnathan Demme’s Philadelphia, in which gay characters ultimately succumbed to the disease. This type of martyrdom contributes ultimate scandalizing of…

In the first chapter in Railway, George Revill opens his volume on the history of the railway with a recounting on the associations between the landscape and the railway and the emergence of tourism geared to railroad travel . Revill traces this history from the establishment of the public steam-powered railway between Liverpool and Manchester which opened in 1830 to the proliferation of railroads in America , and due to the spread of this technology, greater travel distances became more…