Yes, Virginia, Television is a Hot Medium

In this day and age, anyone who is still teaching that television is a cool medium should be beaten about the head and shoulders with a copy of Understanding Media. The meaning of the medium is the message is simple: look at the effects, or, to probe a cliché, "it is by my effects that ye shall know me(dia)."

Today, the Globe has published news of a scientific study that verifies the hot effects of today's TV:

While parents may find it a pain to have their children watching TV all the time, their kids are likely numb to it while parked in front of the tube. A University of Siena study published in the latest issue Archives of Disease in Childhood, suggests that watching TV is more effective in alleviating pain for children than a mother's attention.

Television as an anaesthetic, a characteristic effect of a hot medium. For reference, here's the comparison chart that I use when teaching media theory:

Hot Medium	Cool Medium
Extends a single sense in High Definition with lots of information.	Engages multiple senses with Low Definition; less information for each.
Little completion or active participation to be done; less “filling in” to be done by the audience. Everything is explicit.	High in participation and active completion; audience must “fill in the blanks,” especially applied to intellectual participation and engagement.
Tends to exclude by virtue of its isolating properties and sensory (leading to cognitive) imbalance.	Tends to include.
Engenders specialisation and fragmentation.	Engenders generalization and consolidation.
Normal reaction is to numb overall awareness to mitigate the Hot effects, inducing a state akin to hypnosis or trance — not asleep, but not aware, making one highly suggestible.	Natural reaction is to engage awareness and heighten perception.
Often characterised by short, intense experiences. Motivational speakers rely on Hot Media effects.	Often associated with longer term, sustained experiences.
Tends to capture or hijack attention.	Tends to attract “actively aware” attention, freely given.

The point of making the distinction between hot and cool media is not to label or categorize, but to use the effects we notice as a key to identify the effects we do not notice, or actively ignore. And that, boys and girls, is McLuhan in a nutshell.
[Technorati tags: mcluhan | university of siena | television | hot media | cool media]