We’re all living through the enshittocene, a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit,” author Cory Doctorow said earlier this year.
In 2022, Doctorow coined the word “enshittification”, which has just been crowned Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year. The dictionary defined the word as follows.
“The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”
Editor's note: The internet and all the methods of digital communication promised to make human communication more effective and efficient and to help us, as human beings, become smarter.
As is true with everything in life there are adverse side effects and a downside or shadow side to the phenomenon. In many ways the internet and digital communication have enhanced our human interactions and functions, and in other ways it is has made our interactions and functioning more frustrating, anxiety inducing, and dysfunctional.
The hope that as we gain more experience with these tools we, humans, will learn how to use them more effectively and efficiently. In the meantime, enshittification, is something we are challenged by and must learn how to manage efficaciously.
No comments:
Post a Comment