Why the nature of communication keeps transforming? Throughout history, the way people communicate has changed dramatically. This has to deal with technological media. All these media basically make our society becomes more convenience and straightforward. However, are all these effects going to benefit or harm the relationship between us and the society? In the pre-industrial societies, the dominant means of communication was face-to-face interaction and oral in direct that shape the society. There was no technologies interfered in the transmission of attitudes, ideas, experiences and feelings. On the other hand, personal and direct interaction are no longer the dominate form of communication in today society. It is the new technologies that mediate communication. The way we perceive the world depends greatly on the dominant means of communication and throughout the centuries, the dominant means of communication has changed with the increase of the use of technologies.
             At the beginning of this paper, I will first introduce the two scholars- Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis, about their theories on communication, especially on the trend of media-from oral to literate to electronic, and how each of the dominant means (media) of communication shapes the society. Meanwhile, how these media has given us perceptions of the world. Most importantly, I will emphasize on the impact of electronic media on the way we perceive and conceive of time and space in today society and eventually move toward a "global village" or an "electronic age". At the end, I will summarize how all these characterizations help us understand the relationship between media and society and the affects from these new technologies on today society.
             Harold Innis (1894-1952) got his Ph.D. degree in economics in the University of Chicago. Then, he moved to University of Toronto and met Marshall McLuhan. For the last ten years of...