The medium is the message?

'In a culture like ours,' wrote Marshall McLuhan (1964) 'long accustomed to splitting and dividing all things as a means of control, it is sometimes a bit of a shock to be reminded that, in operational and practical fact, the medium is the message.' That is to say, the medium that is used for communication is more important than the actual message itself. More important?, or rather that the value of any message should be viewed through the medium by which it is communicated? What ,then, does McLuhan's expression mean for ideation in the digital age? Is the idea the medium, or the message? Or, both? In human-technology relationships, does ideation reflect the ethos of modernity to transform ourselves, our ideas and the material world through technology? Or, in post-digital society, does it suggest design can be perceived purely as a conceptual medium liberated from the need of realisation? If so, are designers conceptualisers first, and makers second, if makers at all? Discuss.