Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and what we can do about it
That is why I get tired about the “individual action” suggestion, that I alone could stop using Amazon and hurt their sales, I could de-Google my life and keep my privacy, or recycle plastic and save the ocean, or swear off AI to fuck with Nvidia.
But all that is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of people who all readily handed over their lives to these companies and haven’t left (or can’t). And governments who abdicated regulatory authority to them, which have allowed them to run rampant.
They’re still making it so these massive companies have force in my life. I alone can’t do anything about that.
Well yes, the article is saying exactly that: that individual actions and consumer activism don’t do shit and structural changes are needed. It even gives some examples for structural changes that could be helpful in the short-term.
I completely empathize with your frustration and I feel like individual actions are used as a way to give people some feeling of power that they don’t have and that stays ineffective. It takes the pressure off of companies to change while giving people the feeling like the achieved something. And politicians in most countries don’t have an incentive to change the system either because they live off of lobbying and may get a job at those companies later.
I added the anecdote in my original comment just because I was surprised at the scale that Amazon had an impact on the economy. And yes, it obviously didn’t do much when I took individual action and boycotted them (apart from giving me a feeling of some integrity).
That is why I get tired about the “individual action” suggestion, that I alone could stop using Amazon and hurt their sales, I could de-Google my life and keep my privacy, or recycle plastic and save the ocean, or swear off AI to fuck with Nvidia.
But all that is a drop in the bucket compared to the millions of people who all readily handed over their lives to these companies and haven’t left (or can’t). And governments who abdicated regulatory authority to them, which have allowed them to run rampant.
They’re still making it so these massive companies have force in my life. I alone can’t do anything about that.
Hmm are you implying collective actions are in order?
Well yes, the article is saying exactly that: that individual actions and consumer activism don’t do shit and structural changes are needed. It even gives some examples for structural changes that could be helpful in the short-term.
I completely empathize with your frustration and I feel like individual actions are used as a way to give people some feeling of power that they don’t have and that stays ineffective. It takes the pressure off of companies to change while giving people the feeling like the achieved something. And politicians in most countries don’t have an incentive to change the system either because they live off of lobbying and may get a job at those companies later.
I added the anecdote in my original comment just because I was surprised at the scale that Amazon had an impact on the economy. And yes, it obviously didn’t do much when I took individual action and boycotted them (apart from giving me a feeling of some integrity).
100% with you, well put