I’ve written about this topic before, but it’s nice when major publications back your viewpoint. One of my favorite authors has a new book forthcoming, and as a sign of the times the title – which may have been scandalous in a previous, perhaps more innocent age – gets straight to the point: “Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What To Do About It“. And because everything these days is meta and Mr. Doctorow’s book isn’t even out, I read an advanced review of the book that contained praise as well as some criticisms which I think are valid and troubling to consider when asking the most important question.
What can we do about it?
In case you didn’t read my previous blog about this or don’t remember it (because we all have enough to worry about already, so I get it), “enshittification” is the concept that all good online services and websites will eventually be ruined by our society’s relentless pursuit of profit. The advanced review as it appears on the Current Affairs website does a pretty good job of explaining this topic, and if you don’t intend to purchase the book, I think the article provides enough of an overview for you to spot this trend in the world around you, which may or may not improve how you may feel about it. I’m going to read the book for myself before I render my own praise or criticism, but I have similar concerns to the reviewer’s when it comes to answering the question that you have all asked, “What can we do about it?” It sounds like Mr. Doctorow is calling for grassroots efforts and government intervention to counteract future enshittifications (the author seems to think it’s already too late for the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, etc. and I agree), but from where I’m sitting it seems like getting help from the government isn’t on the menu at the moment, and our grassroots are divided as we fight to maintain healthcare, livelihoods and just basic human decency. So what is my recommendation to you if your technology feels “shitty?”
Take matters into your own hands. If you have the option to use something else, do so and make sure you tell the losing platform why you moved (even if they will probably never read your feedback). If changing the technology isn’t an option, perhaps take a moment to clearly identify the crappy part for the purposes of determining if it’s something you have control or agency over (maybe a new setting or change in interface), or if it’s out of your hands, such as the price going up. If it’s out of your control, focus your energy on working around or through it, or changing something else so that you can eliminate it altogether. Using technology is unavoidable for most of us, but there is no reason to feel like you are a hostage to it, and the best way to manage this is to change the things that you can control, and asking for help or sympathy (or both!) on the things you can’t.