NAME: SHEENA DELOSO BSA 2-A

ENGAGE:
In my understanding, a global village seemed to be the world that was once separated by
continents or vast seas is now connected and put together into one single community, virtually. This
interconnection of countries is caused by the constant innovations in technology, particularly on
social media and telecommunications which enabled communication to be available even beyond
borders. Also, the transformation of the world into a global village resulted in the fading away of each
country’s unique culture, actions, or individuality as a whole since as the global media (media that
mostly favors and/or originated from developed nations) spread, people from all over the world
would begin to act (watch, listen and read) the same. In short, the term “global village” relates to the
statement that our “world is getting smaller.”

EXPLORE:
1. According to McLuhan, what is a global village?

A global village, as predicted and explained by McLuhan, refers to a world interconnected by

electronic information or a new media system, making the world into one single unit. According to
him, the world is continuously turning into a tribal drum which in just one beat on a drum, messages
are echoed throughout the world so quickly and making everyone aware of what is happening on the
other side of the country. Thus, he asserts that these innovations in technology were abolishing the
space and time barriers between nations enabling people to interact and live as a global group and
becoming more concerned about what the group knows and less on self-definition and individualism.
In contrast with the “traditional” book culture where people used to seek for self-definition, isolate
their uniqueness with the pages on the book, and value more towards individualism not relating
oneself from that of others, people, as a result of being influenced and attached with the new media,
suddenly begin to want and appreciate different things and start to think differently and how they
perceived about the world.

2. Is the global village still an imagined community or is it a current reality? Why or why not?

The global village is here, maybe not in its full form as imagined, but its implications are now
highly observable. Computer, internet, communication, and transportation are causing this Earth to
shrink, virtually. We are now living in nations that are no longer isolated within its borders, as
modernization of communication and transportations are breaking down the walls of time and space
that separate each country from the real world. In the contemporary world, we can observe that as
we continued to spend most of our time on any media platforms to communicate, the people in the
other end of the world are becoming our new neighbors as if they are just living next doors. Usually,
a single community is a place where its people know and help each other and everyone has
involvement with its community’s affairs. This scenario is exactly the situation that we are
experiencing now. Though people from different places didn’t know each other personally, everyone
is aware of what is happening in each other’s countries and action of one affects all as if they are part
of others. With all the alliances between nations, if one economy prospers, others will also have a
share of that success and when the world has peace, then people can live a good life. Moreover,
industrial automation, computer evolutions, and world developments bring every corner of the
world together. The Internet brings news to our homes, 24/7, and when industries produce new
products, it can be sold and used in every corner of the world so quickly. Also, terrorist tactics can
bring fear among us though we are far from the war zone and most current observation, when a
virus infection happened in one place, it can now be easily spread throughout the world. All of these
resembled what McLuhan has visualized, an electronic –connected global community.
3. What is the role of media in the formation of the global village?

The media play an important role in the creation of a global village and it turned out to be the
main driving force of the global village as identified by McLuhan. Media functions as a bridge that
connects everyone, every country inside the planet, through spreading information from places to
places. We can now share our fear, happiness, and sympathy for other countries’ current situation
though we are not in their place to personally experience it, it is because of the extraordinary
functions of media-from television, computers, or radios- that bring events live as they happen or
provide daily updates as they passed by. The explosion of media choices also leads to a widening of
the debate in politics, economics, and social sciences. This resulted in calls for greater freedom and a
better standard of living, which was manifested in the way the people in these countries, started
using the media to voice their concerns and letting the world know that they also exist in this “global
community.” As media innovate along with technology, it had caused the influential media groups,
mostly from developed nations, to become more powerful as they can now extend their geographic
scope, while breaking economic and political barriers. Their movies, shows, music, and voices can
now be heard and seen throughout the world, even in the most remote places using digital platforms.
In terms of social media, the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or
exchange ideas in virtual communities and networks, it has changed how people relate with each
other. Before, people were able to send emails and get replies for over a month, but as social media
started, messages can only be sent and replied to even just in seconds. From applying to an
international school to jobs abroad, selling to marketing products to international markets,
everything is easy as oceans and mountains are no longer a hindrance in reaching out to the world
because of social media platforms.

EXPLAIN:

For me, culture can be transformed or hybridized, but can’t be replaced entirely and that
easy. Cultural homogenization is not impossible but it matters how one country embraces its culture
that dictates the happening of this so-called “homogenization.” It is indeed that globalization,
together with modernization, has brought everything in the world together and provided so many
improvements in technology, transportation, communication, businesses, and even on people’s
lifestyles. We can now travel freely and easily to different countries even just to have a meal there,
not just for a mere tour. Globalization may have introduced different cultures that may overlap
existing local cultures, but this does not mean that we have to disregard and devalue our traditions
just because we have seen other’s interesting cultures. Despite the existence of international
cultures, locals still manage to strengthen their own cultures, and instead of letting the imported
cultures to dominate, they adapt and used them for the development and transformation of their
own, instead. Thus, hybridization could occur. For instance, our local designers may conduct
Western-like fashion shows but showcase traditional Filipino clothes and footwear. International
brands of clothing may build numerous branches here in the Philippines, Filipino managers are still
going to integrate Filipino styles on products’ designs and when Filipinos build restaurants in Italy,
Filipino cuisines will never be absent on their menus. Also, as for Africans, they may have acquired
high-tech tools as introduced by modern countries, they still managed to maintain the uniqueness of
their cultural practices. In short, no matter how attached we get to be with other’s styles or wherever
our feet took us, we are still going to return to where we came from and on what we used to be. We
tend to adapt while keeping our original culture still in our home. Thus, for me, cultural
homogenization is still far from realization, especially now that every country can generate funds
allocated mainly for cultural development and preservation. Maybe in some instances, like in poor
countries that are deeply dependent on first world nations, where cultural practices are so
influential, or continuously experiencing economic problems that they can’t afford for resources that
would help them nourish and defend their cultural practices from being replaced, cultural
homogenization may happen in no time.