The digital age's reversion to pre-literate communication

"According to media theorist Marshall McLuhan, every medium is an extension of our physical or mental faculties. The hammer extends our fist, the spear our teeth, the hut our skin, the wheel our feet - and electronic media extend our central nervous system to all of humankind. Extended abilities give us new powers but disrupt previous sensory, cognitive, and social settings."

"The era of printing was, in fact, very short by historical standards - about 550 years. Some call this period the Gutenberg Parenthesis - a metaphor popularized by Jeff Jarvis. Within this Parenthesis, communication was centered around fixed, authored, linear, and stable texts. Things were different before books. Communication was fluid and situational, passed mostly through direct interaction between people. The internet has largely restored those conditions: digital content is updated, shared, and much of it is user-generated - just like in orality."

"As digital media reverse the cognitive detachment typical of print culture and retrieve the situational immersion typical of orality, not only is the Gutenberg Parenthesis closing, but the metaphor of a closing parenthesis - or arc - can be extended to the entire era of literacy. The environmental detachment as a media effect appeared before print - it was the effect of writing."

Media function as extensions of human physical and mental faculties, with electronic media extending the central nervous system globally. Extended media abilities create new powers while disrupting sensory, cognitive, and social settings. The printing era lasted roughly 550 years and centered communication on fixed, authored, linear, and stable texts, a condition often described as the Gutenberg Parenthesis. Before print, communication was fluid and situational, transmitted through direct interaction. The internet restores many oral conditions through updated, shared, and user-generated content. Digital media reverse print-era cognitive detachment and retrieve situational immersion; writing originally produced environmental detachment by separating the known from the knower.

Read at Big Think