When Your Favorite Online Services Feel Worse: Understanding 'Enshittification'

Ever scroll through your favorite app and think, "Wait, this used to be better"? You're not alone. Maybe your go-to streaming service hides the good movies, your social media feed is swamped with ads, or finding what you need on a search engine feels like digging through a digital junk drawer. This widespread frustration is real, with a huge 91% of people reporting annoying issues with digital services in the past year [0], [3].

Good news: it's not just in your head! There's a catchy, if a bit cheeky, name for this slow decline: "Enshittification." Coined by author and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow, this term perfectly captures how online platforms gradually get worse over time [0], [2]. It's so spot-on that it was named the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year for 2023 and Macquarie Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2024 [2], [14], [17], [22], [25], [31], [33].

Why should you care about a funny-sounding word? Because understanding "enshittification" isn't just about complaining. It's about becoming a savvier user of the internet, recognizing when a platform is putting its own profits ahead of your experience, and making smarter choices about where you spend your valuable time and attention online [3].

The Three Acts of "Enshittification": How Good Things Go Bad

"Enshittification" isn't random; it's a predictable, three-step process that many online platforms follow as they grow [0], [4], [9], [14], [15], [16], [19], [25], [30], [31], [33].

Act 1: The Honeymoon - Luring You In

Remember when a new app or website felt like magic? That's Act 1. New platforms often offer amazing features, usually for free or super cheap, to attract tons of users [5], [6], [7], [19], [25], [31].

Think of it like a brand-new restaurant opening. They offer delicious food, fantastic service, and maybe even a free appetizer to get you hooked and tell all your friends [5], [7]. The main goal here is simple: gather as many users as possible to build a huge community and collect data [8]. Early Facebook, with its easy ways to connect, or Amazon, with its low prices and simple shopping, are great examples of this "user-first" stage [6]. These companies often lose money at first, supported by investors, to quickly build a massive user base. This creates a "network effect," meaning the service becomes more valuable as more people use it [4], [5], [6], [8], [10], [18], [20].

Act 2: The Shift - Cozying Up to the Businesses

Once a platform has millions of users, it becomes a powerful "marketplace" for other businesses – like advertisers, sellers, or content creators – who want to reach that huge audience [9], [10]. With billions of users on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, businesses are eager to pay to get in front of you [10].

This is where things start to change. The platform begins making it harder for these businesses to reach users directly, pushing them to pay for visibility through ads or promoted listings [9], [11]. Imagine our popular restaurant now charging food suppliers a premium to get their products on the menu, or making diners pay extra to get the best seats [12]. On social media, this means a business's "organic reach" (how many people see their posts for free) drops, forcing them to pay to show their content even to their own followers [11], [12].

The impact on you? You start seeing more ads, less relevant content, or struggle to find what you're looking for because businesses are paying to be seen [13]. Your social media feed fills with "suggested" posts and sponsored content, pushing down updates from your actual friends [1], [13]. On Amazon, the first few search results are often "Sponsored" listings, not necessarily the best or most relevant products for you [13], [17].

Act 3: The Payback - Squeezing Everyone

In the final act, once both users and businesses are hooked, the platform becomes the "final boss" [15]. It starts taking maximum value from everyone to boost profits for its owners and investors [0], [4], [9], [14], [15], [16], [19], [25], [31], [33].

Our once-great restaurant now has expensive prices for mediocre food, and you have to pay extra just for basic condiments [16]. This means even more aggressive ads, new subscription tiers just to get back basic features, and a generally worse experience for you [14], [15]. Think about the decline of Twitter (now X), with more ads, less relevant content, and features you now have to pay for [17]. Streaming services like Amazon Prime Video are adding ads to tiers that used to be ad-free, forcing you to pay even more to get the experience you once had [15], [17], [31]. Amazon's search results are increasingly packed with paid products, making it a real chore to find what you actually need [17], [30], [33].

Why does this strategy work for them? Because it's hard to leave [18]. Everyone else is still there, or there aren't many good alternatives. This "lock-in" effect – where the hassle of switching (losing friends, data, or learning a new system) is too high – gives platforms immense power to make their services worse without losing too many customers [18], [25], [30], [32], [33].

Beyond Annoyance: Why Does This Matter for Our Digital Future?

"Enshittification" is more than just a minor annoyance; it has big, long-lasting effects on our digital world [19].

The Loss of Innovation: When huge platforms "enshittify," they stifle smaller competitors and make it harder for truly new and better services to emerge [20]. Why would investors fund a startup that's likely to be crushed or bought out by a tech giant? This creates a kind of "elephant path" that discourages exciting new ideas [20].

Your Time and Attention: Your focus becomes the product itself, constantly being sold to advertisers or steered towards features that make the platform money, rather than truly serving your needs [21]. In this "attention economy," your time and attention are valuable currency, and platforms use clever algorithms to keep you hooked, showing you thousands of ads daily [21].

The 'Digital Commons' Effect: What started as an open, useful space – a "digital commons" for everyone – becomes privatized and profit-driven [22]. This changes how we access information and connect with each other, turning shared spaces into "walled gardens" controlled by a few powerful companies [22], [30], [33].

What About Ethical Tech? The relentless chase for profit sometimes pushes aside what's best for users and their privacy [23]. Many tech companies rely on collecting huge amounts of your data for targeted advertising, and while some rules are catching up, 92% of consumers believe companies care more about profits than protecting their data [23]. This means your "free" email or social media often comes at the cost of your personal information being used to build detailed profiles about you [ref:ref:23, ref:ref:30, ref:ref:33].

What You Can Do: Navigating the "Enshittified" World

It might feel like these huge platforms are all-powerful, but you're not helpless. Understanding the cycle of enshittification helps you recognize when a service is going downhill and why [25].

• Be Aware, Not Powerless: Recognizing the three acts helps you spot the patterns. Is a service starting to push more ads? Are features you loved now hidden behind a paywall? These are signs of the "slow boil" effect [25], [29].

• Vote with Your Clicks (and Wallet): Every time you choose a service, you're essentially casting a "vote" for its practices [26], [32]. Support platforms and services that truly care about user experience and privacy, even if they're smaller. Your collective choices can pressure big companies to change [26], [28], [32], [33].

• Explore Alternatives: Don't be afraid to try new apps, social networks, or search engines. Sometimes the grass is greener! [27] Many users migrated from Twitter to alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky after its changes [26], [27]. Privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and Brave Search offer great alternatives to Google [27].

• Demand Better: As consumers, our combined voice can sometimes push platforms to rethink their strategies [28]. Public backlash, like the Reddit blackout in 2023 over changes to its pricing for developers, can force companies to listen [28].

• A Balanced Perspective: Not all changes are "enshittification." Sometimes services evolve for legitimate reasons, like security updates for your banking app or website redesigns for better mobile use [29]. The key is the intent behind the changes: Is it to genuinely improve the service for you, or to extract more profit for them? [29]

The Takeaway: Staying Savvy in a Shifting Digital Landscape

The core idea of "enshittification" is that it's a predictable pattern where platforms prioritize profit over user experience once they've become dominant [31]. Your digital world is changing, and often not for the better, but you're not just imagining things [33].

While individual changes might seem small, collectively, consumer awareness and choices can make a difference [32]. Being informed helps you make better choices about where you spend your time and attention online [33]. You have the power to diversify your "digital diet" by exploring alternatives and supporting ethical tech [30], [32].

Keep questioning and exploring! Your savvy choices can help shape a better, more user-friendly digital future.