Question

1. What would McLuhan say about the impact of the Internet on the global village?
   Consider the fact that civic, political, and religious participation are declining in America. Has electronic technology increased social connectedness?

Answer 1

McLuhan gave the the concept of global village. In this global village, internet provides main function of connecting different elements of this village. It is like a neural network. It makes the communication between two distant points feasible. This can be considered as the main unifying nature of present communication technology.

Internet is bringing diverse cultures nearby to each other. It is helping in expansion of ideas. Social media has become a platform at which a single perspective can be travelled to a far point and that's too with an ease. Sharing of different aspects of cultures has become a reality.

This use of technology has created a competitive force. This inspires various organisations to provide better products with better services. It is connecting world and connecting people. People can provide a review about an aspect/event in fraction of seconds.

Sharing of ideas is no more dependent on distance. Travelling has also become much more easier. Communication is becoming more and more effective. Societies are combining across the globe. One person can know about the events taking place in other part of world.

We can say the connectivity has been increased due to invention on internet and various other technological aspects. Some people say that we might have connected to distant parts of world but we are becoming isolated in our own culture and society.

People are having many online friends but they do not talk to their friends in their own vicinity. People are becoming engaged more and more in technology. People prefer to chat rather than to talk. There may be thousands of virtual friends but real human interactions is loosing it's existence.

All these are causing various mental problems like stress, anxiety and depression. A balanced approach is very much required in making appropriate use of technology in present global technological world.