The Family Unit

In McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage, the prophetic view that “all media works us over” is fascinating especially when a person realizes that the book was first published in 1967. One of ideas from McLuhan’s book that interested me was the impact media has on family life.

“The family circle has widened. The worldpool of information fathered by electric media — movies, Telstar, flight —far surpasses any possible influence mom and dad can now bring to bear. Character no longer is shaped by only two earnest, fumbling experts. Now all the world’s a sage.”

The idea of the “modern family” is rapidly changing, as well as the roles individual family members display. No longer do children or young adults depend merely on their parents to provide educational and social information. A “superior” medium of television and internet have vastly expanded or possibly hindered the family circle. Aspects of family life are constantly being modified because of technology. Televisions are far too often becoming babysitters for young children, while parents focus on other areas of the household. My attention span is that of a gold fish when I am around a television. I do not think television was always my babysitter growing up, but while my sisters were at school and my mom was cleaning television was big part of my day.

As for the internet, adolescents may find a majority of their time spent at home being spent online. The relationship between parents and children has been conflicted because no longer do parents “know everything,” but now technology appears to hold all the answers. If an adolescent has a question that would be uncomfortable to discuss with a parent, there is no need to worry or even confront the parent because all you need to do is search Google. People search the internet for the answers to all their daily problems, whether it is health or fix my home related. The world of the internet is captivating: I know I all to often get caught up in facebook or googling my horoscope for my own entertainment. The internet is no longer a tool used only for communication, but is now an entity filled with information at your fingertips. I did not get internet until my senior year of high school, so I am still not as technologically inclined as most people. However, I do search for many of the answers to my questions online rather than consulting a real person.

What kind of impact does television have on young children? Would the impact depend on the type of television program a child is viewing? How often have you turned to the internet or technology as a source of information instead of asking a parent or educator? How has the internet impacted your life?