The dynamic, perhaps even dialectic, of an artefact influencing our perception which in turn influences the use of that artefact or the development of newer ones didn't have to wait for Marshall McLuhan to put it into clear and concise language (though I admit I haven't done that great a job of that). The basic idea has been around since ... frankly, I don't really know, but certainly before 19th century thinkers framed it clearly enough for us to recognize it. A 2011 article in The Guardian tells us that the particular phrasing we attribute to McLuhan should probably be credited to a colleague of his, John Culkin. The article also points to some of the earlier expressions of more or less the same thought:
Supposedly more "conservative" thinkers have argued along similar lines. Henry David Thoreau observed that "we do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us"; Mark Twain quipped that "when you have a hammer in your hand, everything looks like a nail", and Winston Churchill maintained that "we shape our buildings, and thereafter they shape us".Not surprisingly, BTW, the Quote Investigator can't find any confirmation that Mark Twain actually said that. Twain tends to be the catch-all pundit for all sorts of wise sayings that haven't earned clear-cut attribution. What's more, the hammer/nail metaphor doesn't really describe the way a new tool influences the way a society views itself. Leaving McLuhan aside for a moment, a different quote from Thoreau might best describe some of the ambivalence that I feel toward the smartphone.