Explain why a Social Constructionist approach, such as Winston’s is a better way to understand media’s impact than a strict Technological Deterministic view such as McLuhan’s

Explain why a Social Constructionist approach, such as Winston’s is a better way to understand media’s impact than a strict Technological Deterministic view such as McLuhan’s. What social elements are added by Winston and why are they important? Use the “Apple Watch” article as an illustrative example, or choose your own example to demonstrate how looking at the social factors leads to better prediction of which technology will succeed, and which will fail.

2. The NY Times article “The Cassandra of the Internet Age” describes the work of Michael Goldhaber in the 1980’s. The important concept he gave us ( though he was not the first to use that phrase) is “the attention economy” What does he mean by that? How does this idea relate to Nicholas Carr’s point, in the video talk “What is the Internet Doing to Our Brains,” about deep thinking and deep reading?

3. Why do you think Brian Winston, whose theory we just studied, described Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory as an extreme form of technological determinism? What do you see as extreme about McLuhan’s theory? Are there any aspects of his theory that might make him appear less extreme than Winston thinks? Do you find I aspects of iMcLuhan’s theory that make some sense? Which ideas? Some media scholars in recent years have suggested that McLuhan’s ideas about media make more sense now than they did in the 1960’s. What do you think of that idea/

4. Given Carr’s notion that your iphone is addictive and the content providers’ goal is keeping us glued to our screens, commit yourself to a 24-hour, phone fast. Keep detailed notes on your day without the phone. You will need a pen and paper to do this!After your fast is over, analyze your experience: What did you feel you missed out on? What functions could you not carry out? What was the impact on your social life? Your family life? Were there aspect of your phone fast that turned out to be positive for you?
Finally, how do you feel about the possibility that we are losing some of our brain functions because we have delegated them to our phones.