„When the mass media triumph, the human being dies”

– Umberto Eco, „Towards a Semiological Guerrilla Warfare”, 1967

As we  live our lives deliberately in the slow lane, in spite of the daily bombardment of unnecessary technology and useless information, we find that active resistance is necessary to survival.  Communication is vital to existence but where do we draw the line?  At what point does receiving and sorting through a surfeit of information take over our lives and prevent us from living, breathing and experiencing the more important bits?

We live in an age of Mass Media, where talk is cheap, misleading information is everywhere and at every turn someone is trying desperately to sell us something we don’t need.  No matter whether the topic of discussion is 19th century guitar technique, coffee grinders, distribution of CDs, chain saws, lute strings, shoes, or concert promotion, we are daily bombarded with…