What is Mass Media?

Click the VIEW LECTURE button below to access the powerpoint presentation discussing the role of Mass Media on our society. 

Click the WATCH NOW button below to view a Crash Course video on Media Literacy by cultural commentator Jay Smooth. 

Click the DOWNLOAD NOW button below to access a PDF of the class definition worksheet. 

Starting with the Egyptian Hieroglyphics, this timeline shows the growing importance of mass communication in increasingly compressed historical time periods. It is not an all-inclusive timeline. It is intended to provide an historical perspective and the basis for further study of the rapid development of modern media. 

A focus on Marshall McLuhan's famous essay "The Medium is the Message" and how McLuhan argues that what has been communicated (message) has been less important than the particular medium through which people communicate and that the technology that transmits the message changes us. ​CLICK HERE to read McLuhan's essay

McLuhan Lecture pt. 1
00:00 > 5:30

​Academic History of McLuhan
00:00 > 3:40
9:15 > 11:00

Do you worry that screen-based devices – computers, video games and smartphones - are rewiring your brain? Perhaps you should; because they certainly are. But will the changes mean generations plagued with attention disorders and poor social skills or will it boost creativity?