McLuhan's Warning: Why Better Tools Don't Always Mean Better Connections
The Growth Paradox of Modern Business Communication
The Original Warning
"Our age of anxiety is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's jobs with yesterday's tools," McLuhan captured something profound about progress. In his time, our tools couldn't keep up with our need to connect. His prescient understanding of how media shapes human interaction laid the groundwork for today's leading thinkers on digital society.
When McLuhan declared "the medium is the message," he anticipated what Tristan Harris and Jonathan Haidt now document: that communication tools don't just carry content, they fundamentally reshape how we think, feel, and connect.
Modern thought leaders have built upon McLuhan's foundation, examining how digital transformation has inverted his original concern - from too few tools to too many. Today's fragmented digital commons and the commodification of attention prove McLuhan's central insight: the way we communicate shapes not just what we say, but who we become. His work forms a through-line from the anxieties of the analog age to our present challenges with digital connection.
The 2025 Paradox
Today, we face the opposite problem. Our tools aren't just adequate – they're extraordinary. Yet genuine connection feels harder than ever. Every day, I watch talented leaders struggle not because their tools are insufficient, but because they're overwhelmed by possibilities.
This paradox reflects what Tristan Harris calls "human downgrading" – where our increasingly sophisticated tools optimize for engagement metrics rather than meaningful human connection.
A Story of Connection
“81% of global consumers believe organizations provide a disconnected experience.”
In 2010, I watched businesses struggle to join online conversations. They had sophisticated things to say but spoke in press releases. The tools were new, but the conversation was one-way.
By 2015, everyone had mastered posting and scheduling. But while tools got smarter, conversations got shallower. The anxiety wasn't about capability anymore – it was about knowing where to focus.
This evolution mirrors what Jonathan Haidt describes as the "overwhelming of our evolved social capacities" by digital tools – we're trying to navigate social spaces that our brains weren't designed to handle.
Now in 2025, leaders come to me with a new fear: "We have all these powerful tools, but we don't know where our audience is anymore, what they want from us, or what's worth saying. And we can't afford to get it wrong."
The Heart of Engagement
Three questions that cut through the chaos:
What value can only you provide? (your unique expertise and narrative)
Where do people actively seek this value? (not just where you can reach them)
How will you make that value impossible to ignore? (cutting through digital noise)
Scott Galloway frames this as the "paradox of scale and intimacy" – the challenge of maintaining meaningful connections while operating at scale. It's not just about reaching people; it's about reaching them in ways that matter.
“80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services.”
The Real Challenge
McLuhan warned about inadequate tools. But today's challenge is different: we have powerful tools but default to their most basic features because we've lost sight of the fundamental question – not how to reach people, but why they should care.
The solution isn't in the tools. It's in remembering that meaningful engagement – whether digital or human – starts with having something worth saying and knowing, with as much certainty as possible, who needs to hear it. As Ezra Klein often points out, the abundance of communication channels hasn't solved our fundamental challenge of making connections that matter.
Mark Cuban's perspective adds another dimension to this: in a world of infinite digital reach, the scarcest resource isn't technology – it's trust and attention. The leaders and organizations that thrive will be those who understand that better tools are only valuable when they serve deeper human connections.
