It’s getting worse, and there is a word for it: “enshittification”
Disappointment in the many money-sucking ‘shitty’ digital services requires a word, and Australians have selected it as their word of the year.
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Disappointment in the many money-sucking ‘shitty’ digital services requires a word, and Australians have selected it as their word of the year.
From algorithms boosting right-wing accounts on X to silencing political voices and never-ending ads on Meta platforms, the enormous user fatigue of paying for endless subscriptions gets worse by the day.
“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. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing. It’s even terrifying,” rages Canadian-British blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow.
In 2022, Doctorow made history by creating a word that reflected the general feeling of deep disappointment with digital services. “I coined the term enshittification to describe the way that platforms decay,” wrote the author on his blog.
According to Doctorow, there are three stages in the process of enshittification. First, platforms are accommodating to their users. Then, they abuse them to benefit their business customers. In the final stage, they abuse what is remaining – their business clients – to gain profit only for themselves. “Then, they die,” says the blogger.
The word is catching worldwide attention
After its creation, the word gained momentum. Last year, the American Dialect Society named it its Word of the Year, and this year, it won the laurels from Australia’s oldest dictionary of Australian English, the Macquarie Dictionary.
Macquarie calls in language experts each year to discuss new words and definitions that have appeared during the year. This year, judges surprised onlookers with a word that was surprisingly far from formal language.
“A very basic Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in affixes which elevate it to being almost formal; almost respectable. This word captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment,” the dictionary’s judges said, describing “Enshittification” in a statement on its website.
The Macquarie Dictionary Committee's Choice Word of the Year for 2024 is enshittification, with Honourable Mentions going to right to disconnect (RTD) and rawdogging 👏 pic.twitter.com/Y7FLPKD4ir
undefined Macquarie Dictionary (@MacqDictionary) November 25, 2024
According to the definition provided by the committee, the word means:
“A 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.”
Other nominees for the title were “Right to Disconnect” (or RTD) and “Rawdogging,” both of which refer to digital fatigue universally.
The “Right to Disconnect” is a law that grants employees the right not to work or to be contacted about work during non-work hours.
“Rawdogging” is the act of undertaking a long-haul flight without electronic entertainment, devices, or reading materials. According to a committee, the word’s meaning was quickly extended to apply to other aspects of life.
