Extending Marshall McLuhan Ch. 1-7

In Chapter 7 of Understanding New Media: Extending Marshall McLuhan, Robert Logan expands on two of Marshall McLuhan’s main points -- that “media and technologies are extensions of the human body and psyche” and “the content of any new medium is an older medium” (Logan 82). Cell phones embody this first point with both body and psyche. They have become an extension of everything for us. Through texting, they have become an extension of our fingers. Through voice commands and phone calls, an extension of our voices. Most importantly, phones have become extensions of our psyche through social media and using our phones to manage relationships. 

McLuhan’s second point that Logan focuses on is also very relevant not only to old media, but to new new media today. It is easy to see that each old media used to build off of the one before it; for example, TV combined pictures from print media and sound from radio to form a new medium. However, it is probably overlooked how much new new media build off of “older” new new media. For example, the content of “friending” people that began in Myspace made its way into every new social media outlet after. Adding locations which became popular from Foursquare was added to social networks that came after. Every time a new social media site comes to light, it usually becomes and stays popular because it uses successful strategies from the “older” new new media.