Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) was a Canadian literary scholar who enjoyed international cult status as a media guru in the 1960s. 'McLuhanism' is a term sometimes used to refer to his notion that 'the medium is the message', which had at least four apparent meanings: a) that the medium shapes its content (i.e. that the nature of any medium has implications for the kinds of experience which can be best handled with it); b) that using a medium is important in itself (e.g. watching television or reading books are experiences in themselves regardless of explicit content); c) that the 'message' of a medium is the 'impact' it has on society; d) that the 'message' of a medium is its transformation of the perceptual habits of its users.