Late in his life, Marshall McLuhan developed the idea of using tetrads to apply a consistent mode of analysis to different media. The idea behind them is simple: to make sure that you ask the same questions in the same way about different media.In the Laws of Media(1988), written by McLuhan with his son Eric and published posthumously, he argues that tetrads are “a means of focusing awareness on hidden or unobserved qualities in our culture and technology”. This follows from his argument that all “human artefacts are human utterances, or outerings, and as such they are linguistic and rhetorical entities. At the same time the etymology of all of all human technologies is to be found in the human body itself: they are, as it were, prosthetic devices, mutations, metaphors of the body or its parts”. 

McLuhan argues that the effects of every media can be viewed in four ways, and that the tetrad offers an “exegisis on four levels, showing the logos-structure of each artefact, and giving its four ‘parts’ as metaphor, or word” .The tetrad is therefore a grid with four sections. (as shown above)
ENH (enhance)

The tetrad is arrived at through a process of asking questions, based on historical, social, and technological knowledge of the subject:

*What does any artifact enlarge or enhance?
*What does it erode or obsolesce?
*What does it retrieve that had been earlier obsolesced?
*What does it reverse or flip into when pushed to the limits of its potential?

These questions result in a set of four effects, namely: enhancement, obsolescence, retrieval, and reversal. These four elements are in a resonant relationship (or “interchange”) with one another; the parts of the tetrad are in a complementary relationship:

An example for the cellphone:-
As everyone knows, BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys or Beyond The Scene, is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment. They debuted on June 12, 2013, with the song "No More Dream" from their first album called 2 Cool 4 Skool, for which they won several "New Artist of the Year" awards including those at the 2013 Melon Music Awards and Golden Disc Awards, and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards.They also has been one of the most popular songs in our country nowdays.It is amazingly that the song has touched most of us where we still listen it now.It also shows how unique is the music with their choreography include in their most of their videos.Their songs also has been popular thoughout the year.

Known for their large social media presence, BTS were listed by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016. Following that, Twitter launched its first ever K-pop Twitter emoji featuring BTS. In 2017, BTS won a Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist. In June 2017, Time magazine named the band one of the 25 most influential people on the internet.

Thanks to a massive fan base that stretches around the globe, BTS was able to overtake pop superstars like Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez and capture the Top Social Artist award, presented by ION360, during the 2017 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night (May 21).

The K-pop group had made headlines by announcing that they would be in Las Vegas for the ceremony at the T-Mobile Arena, and their presence dominated social media during the magenta carpet prior to the awards. When Top Social Artist was presented, the group took the stage, looking overwhelmed by the moment and remaining gracious for their fans’ support.The music can be said to be very catcy because the beats that's being played by BTS as well as his amusing dance moves. Most of us should have known the famous step shown by BTS in the music video and it had been used by most of the countries as a step for choreographing their dance steps. The song has contributed much regarding the culture of South Korea where the lyrics were written with a mixture of South Korean language and English language as well. The mixed mode of the music of the song also has captured people’s attention. The song had been connected directly with people all around the world. It was a tremendous accomplishment by BTS where he was able to get people all around the world to get attracted and to listen totheir songs although it was from the South Korea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DwzBICPhdM

The mass media, internet and other sorts of technology have all become major things in our society.  It seems as if mass media, internet, cell phones, and all these other high tech gadgets are needed tour society function and sadly help us human beings to function as well. If one day the internet and these forms of technology were taken away from us, what would become of our society? Would we be like wild beasts going crazy because we don't know what to do with our lives? Sadly in today's society technology has become our best friend that we can barely live without.  In this clip shown below is a scene from South Park that shows how human beings are so in need of technology that we don't know what to do when the internet is taken away from us.

Media is one of the main four agents of socialization that affects youth the most. This is because the media covers the radio, television, and print. There is also electronic media, which includes the use of computers, cell phones, iPads, etc.  According to the article “Facts about the Influence of Media on Young People” it says “The youth represents majority of the population. Teenagers and young adults are part of this group. They represent the significant percentage of people who are self-conscious of their image; hence they are the target audience of producers and advertisers. The influence can be good or bad, depending on how the individuals respond to the media products”.  Since young adults are the targeted audience they are more easily to be influenced than any other age group by the media.

Nothing has really been done to help stop the influence on mass media.  Our lives revolve around mass media and people are starting to become more unaware of the negative things that are shown in mass media.  In almost every movie there is some type of violence going on.  Since 1955 with the TV show called Gunsmoke there was violence going on in television, cowboys shooting other cowboys and people doing deviant things such as rape, killing people, robbing banks, etc. Giving back to the community is on most people’s to-do list, but it takes time and a commitment. A recent study from the National Conference on Citizenship shows that Millennials and teens are more likely to volunteer than other recent generations, and are more civically engaged.

It’s around working collaboratively in partnerships, speaking the same language, working from a client-centric approach, giving our victims or survivors of family violence the tools necessary for them to actually be empowered around their own situation, make decisions that are conducive to their own wellbeing, I suppose with the view to breaking that perpetual cycle of family violence.

We need to remove this whole stigma and taboo about ‘we don’t talk about family violence here.’ Well, why not?

I think it’s not the change that I can make, it’s the change that the community needs to make, because it’s a generational thing. If we don’t take to it to the schools, if we don’t take it to the schoolyards, then like the founder of White Ribbon said, until such time as that we have the conversation in lounge rooms between children and adults about gender equality, about treating each other as an equal, then we are going to be left with that challenge forever.I want to see a safe community; our community as well as the wider community. I want to make sure that the wider community embrace our cultural diversity and are respectful of Aboriginal people and our place in the community and our rightful place there, and that it is shared vision for all of us for the future that we live in a safe, happy, healthy and diverse community.I see a system where women can freely report or disclose violence; they’re not limited by anything. I see a system that is culturally responsive. And I also would like to see a society where women are no longer hurt.I think that what we want to achieve is timely responses to family violence so that we’re able to eradicate family violence. I think that’s the objective.

There’s been a lot of talk and now I want to see a lot more action, and I think the groups that I’ve worked with want to hold people accountable.It’s not an easy task. Where do you start? It’s very difficult, but if we don’t start somewhere, we will get nowhere.

From : Family Violence Reform Community ‘The Truman’s Show’ that captivates me
Every good dumpster-diver knows that there are treasures to be found in trash, and the same can be said of the cultural garbage produced by the Hollywood entertainment industry. One wouldn’t expect to find important philosophical themes being treated with sophistication in a Hollywood movie starring Jim Carrey, goof-ball extraordinaire, but that is exactly what I found in The Truman Show.In the end, I will also have much better things to say about Jim Carrey.

So the first point of philosophical significance in The Truman Show is that it presents an intriguing example of how a person could be radically mistaken in his beliefs about the world. One of the scene that being portrayed in the movie is when Truman musters the courage to board a sail boat and leave Sea Haven. Christof, however, is not prepared to let Truman escape so easily, since such an escape will mean the end of the TV show, Christof’s great artistic creation. If the show is indeed to end, it must be on his terms. Christof therefore orders his production team to fabricate a storm that will either force Truman to turn back or, if not, cause him to drown. The storm fails to deter Truman, though it does nearly kill him. Nevertheless, Truman ultimately survives and reaches the limits of his world, the periphery of the TV studio. At the periphery Truman finds a door, which opens out into complete darkness, representing the unknown for Truman. Christof speaks to Truman directly at this point, and attempts to persuade him not to leave. Truman ignores this plea and exits the TV studio, stepping into the darkness of the real world.

How is the movie affect me personally?
Stereotypes can have a negative and positive impact on individuals.
 
Some of the stereotypes we typically encounter in ourselves and others can include gender,race,age,religion,sexual,orientation,body type,dress,Income,career/job,country of origin,state of origin,clothing, and many more.In our minds, create a picture of that entire person and place that individual into a stereotypical group. It is not just characteristics that set an individual apart that creates a stereotype, but also characteristics that cause us to place an individual as a member of a group, then infer that that individual is exactly like all other members of that group or that all members of that group are like that individual.That picture can then influence our jugements about that individual. Stereotypes can be positive (blonds have more fun) or negative (the Irish drink too much) in their original intent, but are still an abbreviated and inaccurate characterization that can cause harm.

Difficulties in differentiating gender roles in the modern societies can be a perfect example of the negative social effects of using stereotypes. A division of gender roles is deeply rooted in the social archetypes. In the past, the patriarchy was a dominant family model. Through the ages men have been considered to be financial providers, career-focused, assertive and independent, whereas women have been shown as low-position workers, loving wives and mothers, responsible for raising children and doing housework. Nowadays a family model is based rather on a partnership than on patriarchy and women have more rights and possibilities on the labor market. Feminist environment had a significant impact on the change in this situation. Women’s liberation movement fought for the rights of women and for redefining traditional gender roles. They claimed, that there should be no distinction between typical masculine and feminine occupations, and that traits of character should not be ascribed once and for all to one gender. Nevertheless, many social institutions, such as mass media, still use gender stereotypes, basing on the assumption, that they are well known to everyone and help the receivers to understand the content of the message.

What about an example where no harm has been caused?
1) Stereotypes can be threat where there will be no harm caused for example,women encouraged to think of themselves in terms of their valued and unique
characteristics were less likely to experience stereotype threat in mathematics

2) No harm can caused if each individuals who were asked to think of characteristics that are shared by ingroup and outgoup members, particularly characteristics in the threatened domain appeared to be less vulnerable to developing stereotype threat in conditions that normally produce it

What’s the difference between these two examples?
Some people say that it can be a jokes that stereotype and still understand that they’re likely not intended to be serious portrayals of minorities.

Some said that stereotypes are not always played off as well as they are and they can be offensive to a certain group.Stereotypes can be funny.But there is a right place and a right time. The right time is when you know the other person who is being stereotyped is going to be laughing with you.












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