There is no doubt that music has become an essential part of our lives. When we feel stressful, bored, lonely, or depress, we tend to take out an iPod from our pockets, plug in our headphones and start listening to our favorite music, and let the music do its work on us. You probably think that the medium that I will talk about is my iPod, but the answer is no. The medium that I would like to share is my Sennheisher headphone. After reading Understanding Media: The Extension of Man by Marshall McLuhan, I no longer limit media to things that only deliver content, but also things that can shape the way individual perceive the world.
Imagine an iPod that can only go on loud speaker, but cannot connect with each individual personally. You would probably be hearing a combination of your parents nagging, your friends’ conversation, construction noise outside your room, music from others, and finally your favorite music. There is nothing that can isolate yourself from the rest of the world when you wanted to, so that you can enjoy and calm your emotion. However, the invention of headphone can do this job perfectly. It is a medium only between your ears drums and your songs. You no longer need to hear your parent nagging, boring conversations, construction noise, and music you do not like when headphone can disconnect your surrounding sound with you and connect you with your songs. Just like the light bulb example that McLuhan demonstrated. Although a light bulb doesn’t have the content like a TV has TV shows or a magazine has articles, it is a medium that enables people to view spaces and objects during the night. With my Sennheisher headphone, it enables me to listen to music in a silent environment, and have more time to reflect on the music that I am listening to.
I love that you chose headphones as your media artifact. I love my bose noise canceling headphones. When i listen to house music I am completely cut off from the world. I feel good headphones really does affect the way interact with people in society.
ReplyDeleteI also love that you chose headphones as your media artifact. It's unique and original and I completely agree that a specific headphone dictates the way you interpret what is coming out of them. The Media is only what you make of it, and the better you can interpret the media, the more assured you can be that you did not over perceive it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see how McLuhan expanded your definition of media! Headphones are such an interesting artifact to write about. It has everything to do with the rising individualism and social alienation that dominates today's media world.
ReplyDeleteThis article: "Stick it in Your Ear: The Psychodynamics of iPod Enjoyment" might be very relevant to your entry:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a793711168~frm=abslink
The image you posted is very interesting as well. Are you trying to make a statement with it?