Participation 4

1) The idea that the 'medium is the message' means that the content is less important that the medium it is communicated through. I am the type of person who loves to read, but I also love movies; I will read the book and also watch the movie of the same story. This an example of the 'medium as the message,' and when I think about an experience where that idea (medium is the message) effected me is when I experienced the same story through a book and movie series. I watched the first movie in the series, then read the whole series and then finished the movies. In this instance the medium the story was told through effected my interest in it, for this rare occasion I enjoyed the movies more than the book. 2)We use technology all the time and much of it has become an extension of our lives. However, I don't think there is a better example of media technology as an extension of our bodies than the ever mighty Smartphone. Of course there are other things we have, basically, become so accustomed to that it is practically a part of our body, but there is no better example than Smartphones. I know I have become attached to mine! 3)The 'Global Village,' the new social organization made by wide-scale connectivity. Today it is hard to not be engaged in this 'global village' but not impossible. I engage in this social media and 'global village' on a fairly regular basis through Facebook and Pinterest, but that is the limited extent of it. 4)I have never been a technologically inclined person, at least, I am not very good when it comes to working it. Therefore, I do not often wish for more advanced technology (new computers, new iphone version, super TV's etc.). Don't get me wrong, I have most of those things, but I have them because they came out and I tried them, liked them, then bought them. I would never have thought to myself "oh, society needs to come out with better technology." I believe that times change so technology changes naturally, like most things in the word, but then society reacts to that change in technology. Of course, I can see and understand, the view of technological determination and would believe that it is true in occasional circumstances; however, I would say I am probably, for the most part, a structuralism.