June 17, 2026
THE DAILY McLUHAN DIALOGUES™ — McDialogues™
An Exploration of Media Ecology as an Anchor in a Sea of Change™ and Tactical Training in Counter-Propaganda Science
by Nelson S. Thall, Former Director/Chief Archivist, Marshall McLuhan Center On Global Communications, Ross, Ca.
Have Book — Will Outsmart
A Student of Technology asks:
Recent reports suggest that young people are reading more than they have in years. But are they reading books or screens, and does it matter?
Nelson S. Thall replies:
It matters enormously.
The issue is not whether young people are reading words. The issue is whether those words are being experienced in a medium of light on or light through.
A printed book is a medium of light on. Light falls upon the page and is reflected to the eye. This environment separates the eye from the ear and creates visual space. Visual space is linear, sequential and analytic. The phonetic alphabet and print culture are environments of light on. Their effect was to detribalize society and heighten the individual against the tribe. Out of this environment came literacy, nationalism, democracy, private judgment and the rule of law.
A screen is a medium of light through. Light is projected through the medium directly into the eye. Electronic media do not separate the eye from the ear. They restore audile-tactile space, a world of simultaneity, involvement and pattern recognition. Their effect is retribalizing rather than detribalizing.
The shift from light on to light through is therefore not merely technological. It is a shift in the sensory environment that alters the balance between the individual and the tribe. As society moves from reflected light to transmitted light, the conditions that once favoured individualism, nationalism and democracy are weakened. The forces of retribalization are strengthened. The result is a more confused society.
Before we celebrate a return to reading we must therefore ask a more fundamental question. Are young people returning to books, or are they simply reading more words on screens? The answer makes all the difference.
For more than three thousand five hundred years, reading in reflected light helped shape literacy, private judgment, individual identity, nationalism, democracy and the rule of law. A sensory environment that has reinforced these patterns for millennia possesses enormous momentum. It will not disappear overnight. If the printed book regains its place, it may help restore some of the conditions that heighten the individual against the tribe.
Whether that happens remains to be seen. But the celebration must wait until we know whether the young are returning to books or merely reading more words inside electronic environments.
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All intellectual property contained herein was conceived, originated and authored exclusively by Nelson S. Thall. Artificial intelligence aka a pseudo-conscious machine (PCM) was not employed. We hired a stenographer. No intellectual contribution or creative authorship is attributed to the AI tool. All rights of authorship and ownership vest entirely and exclusively with Nelson S. Thall.
I can be reached at nelson@themediumisthemessage.com