Saturday, September 5, 2009

The Extension(s) of Human

Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964 about Media as the extension of man. Media for McLuhan is not only newspapers, radio, and television. He defined media – or the singular word “medium” – in a broader sense which is “any extensions of ourselves”. I agree with this, in fact, I like his way of thinking!

Let’s start with a car which McLuhan mentioned in his book. Recently I started training to drive again (my target is to get a full UK driving licence before the end of 2009). Although I had been driving for ages and used to have my own Toyota Kijang roaming around the street of Jakarta, I need to have some kind of refresher’s course before I took my theory and driving test. Oh well, “Why not?” I thought.

I am glad that I took this four hours driving lesson. There are certain habits that I should change for the test. However, let’s not go through these technicalities. My point is, the minute I put my hands on the steering wheel, I feel the warm welcoming sensation of having this “extension” of me coming back. Back on the saddle after a good four years!


I realised how easily we take for granted technologies like car. Behind the wheel, I feel free as a bird, I feel like a pilot who just conquered the Earth’s gravity and soar through the sky. I suddenly gain speed, and my extended self is much bigger and less vulnerable than my own body walking down the street. The car is indeed my extension that enabled me to “reach farther” to the outside world.

Being “extended” by a car, our bodily coordination adjusts to gears, buttons, levers and our brain translates the red-amber-green colours into instruction to move or stop. It took only a split second for the brain to translate a stop sign into the movement of the right foot hitting the brake, the left foot pressing the clutch and the hand changing the gear. It is amazing!

Other technology that has become our extension (or at least mine) is the keyboard. People who type with all 10 fingers (yes, it’s actually eight fingers and two thumbs!), do not consciously aware where say the letter “X” is. The fingers just found it when it was needed as part of a word. When I have to type with one finger only – for example when I’m typing something at work while having my lunch at the same time – I would struggle finding the letters. However, as soon as my index fingers are on the letter “F” and “J”, then the rest is very quick and easy. It seems like my fingers know more than me!

Now the latest technology that amazes me is the iPhone. (If you wonder, the answer is yes! I just joined the 5.2 million users of iPhone in the world) For some good years I had been used to texting with my two thumbs. A mobile phone was just a phone with an additional text messaging feature for me. Only three years ago I refused to get a phone with camera, “A phone is a phone and a camera is a camera. Combining the two is just madness!” I used to say. Now that the era of smartphones are finally dawned on me, I am surprise to find myself reading my emails while doing “my business” in the Ladies Room. Magazines no longer accompanied me to the loo, it’s the iPhone!

The New Scientist (22 August 2009) quoted a scientist from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, that “app-enabled phones could become the sole lens through which we view the world”. That sounds scary for me who cheered for John Henry in his race against the steam powered hammer! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_(folklore) )

However, when my dear husband and I (we both claim to be a bit of a luddite) decided to get iPhones, we made a conscious decision (or so I thought) that it is time to join in with the rest of the technological world. I might be wrong, but I suspect at some point John Henry would learn to use the steam powered hammer for his benefit instead of kept on fighting the inevitable (use your brain to tame and utilise the powerful beast!)



Being able to check my emails while waiting on a bus stop (when there is free wifi available) is a brilliant novelty. The concept of text messaging and emailing is merging and becoming blurred with this little gadget. While some of my friends on facebook already familiar with updating their status through their mobile phones since probably last year, I am still amazed by how easy and handy it is!

Observing my own habit lately, I guess The Gravity Tank survey (quoted by the New Scientist as mentioned above) quite right to say that app (iPhone) users spend about 25 per cent less time using the more conventional media.

Another brilliant thing that my husband showed me is the stop watch and counter. When I swim, he used to count my time and lengths with an old fashion counter and watch (well, the watch was on his old fashion mobile). Now with his new sexy phone (yes, that’s how he calls his iPhone!), he could just start the stop watch and hit the laps button every time I finish one length. Wow….!

Though the new opening world looks unlimited and I am still finding new things (oh, we can listen to an Indonesian radio station in the comfort of our flat in Manchester!), I am starting to think about the limit. Where should we draw the line on this new technology that is creeping inside our everyday world? I am still apprehensive in browsing the app store, as I don’t want to get into the habit of downloading anything that I could live without (I have this life principle that I got from Disney’s “Jungle Book” as sung by the big Baloo bear, “Look for the bare necessity the simple bare necessity of life…If you can live without and then go along not thinking about it!”)

We do enjoy having extensions to ourselves. These technologies took me to a whole new world. I am not sure how I could live away from the fast UK broadband internet (and now, from wifi where I could download my emails into my phone). I am also pretty certain that no one could type on an old fashion type writer anymore (computer keyboard are so light compare to those!). I feel like singing this Aladdin’s song, “A whole new world… I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far, I can’t go back to where I used to be.”

However the last question is how far we want to be extended and where is the boundary between us and our extensions? After all, I would still like to think that I am in control of the technology on my hand and not the other way around. But.. am I?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice thought, de .. :-)
enjoyed it!

Unknown said...

I think that's the purpose of the technology: to make us think that we are in control...

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