Marshall McLuhan is heavily invested with the idea that media often influences mankind’s creation of content. He begins his claim by stating that “Societies have been shaped more by the nature of media by which men communicate by than by the content of communication”. He illustrates to the audience that design is often regulated by the current trends of society during that time period. Artists often depict messages on social commentary and any events that occur with in a nation, covering various subjects and current events, using that as content for their work.  McLuhan warns people that design is no longer catering towards the concept of observation but rather tries to invoke psychological and emotional responses, as people were conditioned to not observe but rather “feel” a work or design. This is the so-called “extension of man” as McLuhan puts it. Media is the extension of man and man has created extensions upon himself with such examples being “ A book as the extension of the eye” , “clothing as the extension of the skin” and “electric circuitry as the extension of the central nervous system of man”.

One of the two problems McLuhan mentions in his book is the rise of mechanization. He firmly believes that with the advancements made to technology, the people’s way of life becomes more mechanical. He illustrates this by saying “ From the fifteenth century to the twentieth century, there is a steady progress of work that constitute “mechanization” and “specialism”. These procedures cannot serve for survival or sanity in this new time.” The other problem McLuhan notices is the ever-so-present influence of political, social and economical elements in society. He furiously alerts people that each form of media exhausts the public with its oversaturated content and emphasis on current events, that the entire consciousness of the masses become dulled and bombarded with constant information. “They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic…social, consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered.” is what McLuhan states about his view on the modern era’s information bombardment.

If artists are to create new messages to their audience, it is imperative that they understand who their target audience is. Depending on their audience’s general knowledge, artists may have to alter their work so that it is easily comprehensible to the people viewing it. Of course, it is a subjective question, where there is no real definitive answer. Artists during the times of the industrial revolution to even present-day depend on technology for mass production and mass distribution to send their messages across from their own town, to the nation and then the world.. There is a constant struggle between Artists who create content out of their own dreams and artists who create content purely as commentary in the society they live in. However, as McLuhn exclaims “All media are extensions of human faculty – Psychic or Physical” and that is true. The longer artists are exposed to the state of affairs in the place they reside, the more possible it is that they reflect that image in their work whether they are conscious about it or not. It is the mind of the artist that has the ability to create the message they want to demonstrate with their own perceptions whether it be for entertainment or announcement.Â