“He Suddenly Decided It Was Obsolete”

The New York Times started to go electric during the 1970s, beginning on the task of computerizing its newsroom to simplify production, but Marshall McLuhan was already dismayed by the antiquated way he had to consume the information. From a 1976 Barbara Rowes People article:

“For years, while he waited for breakfast, McLuhan read the New York Times, until he suddenly decided it was obsolete. ‘The complicated layout of the Times is 19th-century. To get through the whole damn thing would take at least a week. In the electronic age people want information quickly.’ He now picks up the news of the day from the Toronto Globe and Mail.

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