Why Marshall McLuhan Matters Now More Than Ever

McLuhan was right. Media environments now shape thought, education, and public behaviour more powerfully than content itself.

A man reads a newspaper while sitting on a park bench in downtown Vancouver, in a file photo. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Commentary

Long before social media and smartphones, Marshall McLuhan warned that media technologies create environments that alter how people think and behave. Grant Havers’ “The Medium is Still the Message: Marshall McLuhan For Our Time” shows how right McLuhan was and why that insight now carries consequences we can no longer ignore.