[epicide]

A particular medium is not (necessarily) to blame. Even the proliferation of what can be perceived as low quality examples of a medium isn't purely to blame. A large part of it is in how you interpret it.

Even with books, it's all in how you intepret it. If you just read the story without giving it any thought, it's no better than watching "mindless TV". I just think there is probably a positive correlation between people that are willing to think critically about a topic and those who are willing to put in the additional effort of reading vs watching.

To put it another way, if you knew nothing of painting or any the history behind it, the Mona Lisa would likely be indistinguishable to you from some random photo on someone's Facebook.

I will admit that some forms of media are easier to mindlessly consume than others. I am just sick of seeing the "X is only for stupid/lazy/ignorant people" (where X is TV, internet, videogames, etc.)

tl;dr you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Edit: to get back to the topic of Facebook, I think the format of social media is not the cause of the issue, but I definitely see a problem in people having high exposure to insular opinions. Mostly because there seems to be a large number of people who only use Facebook as their source of information. Like any tool, you can use it for good or bad.

[folksinger]

> A particular medium is not (necessarily) to blame. Even the proliferation of what can be perceived as low quality examples of a medium isn't purely to blame. A large part of it is in how you interpret it.

Suppose we were to say, “Apple pie is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines its value.” Or, “The smallpox virus is in itself neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines their value.”

- Marshall McLuhan

[CoryG89]

I would agree? Apple pie is pretty good for lunch, but if a clown is throwing one at your face it might not be. Smallpox sucks when it's uncontrolled, but the small amount kept for vaccines is probably a good thing.

[gt_]

I wouldn’t blame apple pie for that.

[epicide]

I understand your point that some things are worse than others (for humans), but I think it also completely ignores the fact that we don't (usually) think of smallpox as a tool as much as something that happens. Kind of like how we don't consider a tornado a tool.

[dwaltrip]

This idea doesn't seem very useful to me, given that specific things tend to be used in a limited number of specific ways.

Sure, we can imagine a theoretical beneficial use for almost any object. However, we shouldn't be blind to the fact that certain things tend to cause more harm, even when we try to prevent it.

Note, I'm not saying how exactly we should respond to more dangerous objects, I'm just saying we should not falsely claim that they aren't dangerous.

[specialist]

Sure, if you completely ignore human cognition, physiology. Scratch that. You have to deny the real world, physical reality, cause and effect.

The medium is the message.

[epicide]

So all newspapers have the same message?

Edit: I'm not saying the medium has zero influence on the message. I'm just pointing out that a) the medium does not dictate the message, and b) effectively "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

[AndrewUnmuted]

McLuhan's point of view was that the means for media delivery have a much more significant global impact than the content contained within the media itself.

He did not contend that the content was meaningless, or lacked a message. He did, however, quip throughout his life that focusing on the content is putting the cart before the horse.

[specialist]

Communication theory is the medium constrains the possible messages. Further, McLuhan, Postman, others are saying various mediums have their own intrinsic dominate properties, character, which crowd out most other messages. TV gave us the sound bite. Usenet gave us trolls. Twitter gave us Trump. Facebook gave us "fake news" (aka gossip posing as truth).

[epicide]

> Communication theory is the medium constrains the possible messages.

Looking at it this way makes a lot of sense.

[WillReplyfFood]

One should not blame heroin- it only brings out in humans, what was allready there. Blame the monkey constructor instead- get a torch and find a church.

[epicide]

And just like any other tool, opiates can be used for good or bad.

The above also confounds what I'm saying with some predetermination that some are born to become addicts.

[dundercoder]

>you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink Duct tape and a hose, done.