• According to McLuhan, we need to focus on our everyday experience of technology. He divided all human history into four periods- a tribal age, literate age, print age and an electronic age.  Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), Canadian professor of literature and culture, developed a theory of media and human development claiming that "the medium is the message."
Four Periods:



·         The Tribal Age: An Acoustic Era- In tribal age, senses were used. It was more on hearing because it allows you to be more aware of your surroundings. You only could see one direction. You are not able to notice the other things that surround you if sense of sight is more dominant. The means of communication is through ears.

      The Age of Literacy: A Visual Point of View- Sounds were turned into visible objects that suddenly eyes became most apparent and most used among senses. The means of communication is through writing that allows you to comprehend information longer than just hearing it. The phonetic alphabet paved the way for the people to be freed from tribal and be an independent.
   

      The Print Age: Prototype of the Industrial Revolution- the printing press made visual dependence widespread as Johannes Gutenberg invented movable printing press. The printing press made the mass production of print media possible. Printing press became the extension of phonetic literacy and the era got back on using the eyes for comprehension. However, they are being isolated as they gained knowledge.
       



     The Electronic Age: The Rise of Global Village- The rise of electronic media where the printed world lost its bearings. It became worldwide tool. Electronic media are widely used and now relevant to everyone’s lives. Everyone could gain knowledge even without the ability to read and write. because we can depend on other senses. The people became a one tribe again, a global village.



·         Updating the ages  

   Robert K. Logan is professor emeritus of physics at the University of Toronto and Chief Scientist of the Strategic Innovation Lab at the Ontario College of Art and Design. He worked collaboratively with Marshall McLuhan at the University of Toronto, co-publishing various works and producing his own works, heavily inspired by McLuhan. Logan updates the era of communications, adding two new eras:
Ø  Age of nonverbal mimetic communication (characteristic of archaic Homo sapiens)
Ø  Age of orality
Ø  Age of literacy
Ø  Age of electric mass media
Ø  Age of digital interactive media, or 'new media'
·         The digital age: Rewiring the Global Village- The more upgraded version of media wherein it became a necessity for every one of us. Mobile Phones’ popularity has been immense. According to McLuhan, people are now free from isolation. He described the global village as where "humans can no longer live in isolation, but rather will always be connected by continuous and instantaneous electronic media."

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