The information revolution seems to have been replaced by an advertising revolution. Where once was promised a superhighway, now appears a supershoppingmall moving walkway, which once stepped upon, cannot be escaped.

At least three London mainline stations - Liverpool Street, Kings Cross and Euston have huge TV monitors in the concourse with ‘news headlines’ - but it all seems so vague and distant, 30 second footage of carnage in Baghdad, the pyschotic cartoon like Bush threatening Iran, Blair desperate to create America-in-Britain before he resigns. In between the boiling turmoil that’s ‘the rest of the world’; there is an endless barrage of meaningless adverts.

My email box is swamped by spam mail, all of which is trying to take money from me.

My mobile phone now gets spam SMS messages.

We cancelled SKY TV because not only is it crap - and believe me, if you’ve never watched it - it is - but because it is impossible to watch anything on it because of the regular five minute advertising breaks. Its like trying to watch a film in a supermarket.

I’ve started to try and work on a categorisation and definition of this. It is not information to be bombared by advertorial and advertising messages. This is not an information revolution.

Here’s the top links on ‘Orange World’ access to the internet:

Orange world
Buff or rough - get voting
TV & video
Music & tones
Games
WHAT’S HOT
SIgned Pete Doherty guitar
WATCH: South Park fart fun clip
TOP: Calling Tunes inc Brits
FILM: Cinema listings
NOW: Live train times
NOW: Boredom busters

GO DIRECT:
Web - MSN, eBay, Google
Your pics - buff or rough
Your page
News/ weather
Sport
Pictures / wallpapers
Chat
Email
Film
Orange local
Travel
More

Under the section on News:
LATEST: Sky headlines
WATCH: News on video
WEATHER: Local and national

TOP STORIES:
Gun victim’s father backs police hunt
Passengers tell of plane hiijack ordeal
Amazing replica eye for cancer victim

QUIRKY NEWS
Chocolate car
Bridge too far?
More quirky stories

The main category that all of this can come under is what I would call Murdoch Culture. Aspects of the term ‘Murdoch Culture’ could include:

dumb, sexist, rigid, controlled, alienated, empty, costly, vacuous, reactionary, oppressive, meaningless, capitalistic, destructive, addictive

The information revolution - so called - is fast becoming replaced by an intensification of consumerism and conservative thought.