medium

is a principle which, for any form of interested communication, lasts only so long as we remain relatively unconscious of the form: as soon as we become conscious of it the content separates from it.

the message, for any form of interested communication, lasts only so long as we remain relatively unconscious of the form: as soon as we become conscious of it the content separates from it.

is the message is a phrase point to the the fundamental impact that media itself has on human experience. Though a lightbulb may have nothing on its own to say, by bringing light to darkness, it fundamentally changed existence by, among other things, extending time for social interaction.

From McLuhan's standpoint, a medium impacts human experience and society not primarily through the content that it mediates but through its formal, technical properties as a medium. The example he proffers in a central section of Understanding Media is the lightbulb, which, despite having no content of its own, profoundly impacts social life, literally illuminating the darkness and thereby extending the time of human social interaction.

The medium is the message. — Marshall McLuhan

medium, n.All

medium