If I could choose only one quote from McLuhan’s book it would be, “Today’s child is growing up absurd, because he lives in two worlds, and neither of them inclines him to grow up.” (McLuhan, 1996)
This is my favorite quote by McLuhan because the words he chooses to use are strong and directly conveys a message. He uses the word “absurd” to suggest that there is an unreasonable or illogical way in which children are expected to “grow up.” I agree with McLuhan because from a young age, essentially from birth, we process information from our surroundings. However, we are taught what is important or valuable to live in the realm of societal standards, but they often contradict reality itself. For example, a child turns on the TV to find find angry protesters, police brutality, local shootings and the President of the United States belittling women. The same child goes to school and learns math, science, art and literature, how to share and be kind to others. None of which ever attempts to recognize these other experiences as truth. Instead, they are labeled, “politics” when it is really much more than that. This is what McLuhan alludes to when he said, “..he lives in two worlds.” Television has become a doorway into multiple dimensions of stories and realities, different or similar to our own.
I can relate to this quote because, as a child, I remember being told not to grow up, “too fast.” Then I would see things on TV that suggested a different message. I also remember being told, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV,” but I have also come to understand things may not always appear as they seem, even in real life. There are social constructs that are very real that we were all aware of but could not see or experience first hand until viral sharing broke the internet. How do we separate illusion from reality? I think our realities are mere illusions of what we put out into the world. We create ways to distort our realities, not the other way around. Just as an object has no use or meaning until we give it a name, and we use it, then it becomes a tool. Things do not have an impact on an environment, they have an impact on people, people’s executive processing functions, and their understanding on the external world.
I think I understand what you’re saying, however your use of “thing” is kind of vague to me. I couldn’t really keep up with what the “thing” was. Overall, I think you make some good points here, especially about how viral sharing enlightens people about the social constructs present around the world.
The “thing” can be anything. lol. Any object.
I think the two worlds allow kids to grow up faster. Even if it’s not through information directly, then understanding the in’s and out’s puts them further ahead then where we were at the same age. But there has to also be limits as well.