MENESES, GENESIS A.

GEED 10043
BSA 1-3 THE CONTEMPORARY
WORLD

Has McLuhan's ideal of a ‘global village’ become a reality?

Marshall McLuhan describes 'global village' as an analogy of a human's nervous system,

explaining how the communities are interconnected and intertwined due to the influence of so-
called modern technology. Just like how an optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye
to the brain. Like how the ear transmits electrical signals to the auditory nerve, which
disseminates the information to the brain; everything is networked. Enough about biology
jargons and analogies, how can we say that the idea of McLuhan's 'global village' in 1967 has
become a reality in the contemporary world we live in right now?
 
Globalization made the 'global village' a reality. Through the work of the media, rather
than waiting for the 6 p.m. TV Patrol News, we can browse all the information we want with our
smartphones - reaching and receiving headlines from the utmost corner of the globe.
Communication has never been easier. Physical letters? Yes, but we can send everything now
just by a click using electronic mails. What does the internet have to do with this 'global village'
becoming a reality? From a statistic studied by google, 59% or almost 4.66 billion people were
active internet users as of October 2020. It means that electric technology will continue to be
part of our daily lives.
 
With the analogy, definitions and statistics already laid out, let's begin to analyze the
concept of 'global village' in today's context. Have you ever heard of the word 'netizens'? It's a
term used to call a person who's actively using the internet. Invented until only the late 1970s, it
is an indication that there is a need for that word as people who use the internet have been
rapidly growing. Netizens as an identity of a virtual 'global village' has propelled the concept
even further. Have you ever realized that those who love the same music genre or watch the
same movies have commonalities? Take those who watch CongTV and Team Payaman on
YouTube as part of their daily routine. Calling their viewers 'Chicken Feet Gang' has given them
an identity of the same culture. The mannerism of shouting 'power' which the YouTubers
popularized has been transferred to the daily viewers, building a collective sense of culture and
identity.  Though this operates locally, it is evident that those who share the same experience in
media platforms have already built mutual awareness. Defying geographical cultures has
created the concept of 'global village'.
 
'Internet culture' as other people interpret it, the world wide web has created the 'global
village' with netizens as an identity. It propelled globalization further, dominating the world at
rapid speed as the internet kept evolving and progressing. It's like taking one's freedom when
you took their phone. The concept of 'netizens,' 'internet culture,' and 'globalization' makes it no
denying that these terms are not invented just for the sake of investing these words, but
because it is indeed present in reality. In conclusion, the 'global village' has become a reality
just as McLuhan predicted in 1967.
References:
Admin, B. (2018). 10 Reasons Why the World Is A Global Village. Retrieved from Bell Africana:
https://bellafricana.com/world-global-village/
Attwood, M. (2015, July 19). McLuhan’s Global Village, Still Relevant Today. Retrieved from
Medium: https://medium.com/@maiken_louise/mcluhan-s-global-village-still-relevant-
today-1bd4e3792b61
Global Digital Population as of October 2020. (2020, October). Retrieved from Statista:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide/