Enshittification in a nutshell
Enshittification in a nutshell
Attached: 1 image This feels appropriate for the second thing I've ever posted to mastodon.
Author: The Oatmeal
Oh, I love The Oatmeal! My family got their first PC in the end of 1994 or early 1995, a bit before Windows 95 launch. The internet was magical an new feeling, real rough around the edges. The sweet spot was early 2000's, but ever since huge Companies like Facebook, Instagram, etc started being the focus, moving away from personally ran sites, everything started to get shitty. It feels like price of entry to start up something new websites is really high, and you have a huge uphill battle against the Facebooks, Youtubes, and Instagrams of the world.
I think in short, mega tech companies have too much power and control over the internet. It's made the whole thing just shittier. I was reminded of this, because of the time frame I used to check out The Oatmeal all the time, along with Penny Arcade and a few other web comics. I suppose the phrase 'Simpler times" applies here, but really it just feels like I'm banging my cane on my rocker shouting "BACK IN MAH DAY!!!".
Yeah, I've been feeling myself dizzy and ocassionally exploding with "old man yells at cloud" tier rants over how stuff used to work smoothly, nowadays the web does less while consuming more resources and it's all intentional.
Corporations saw every nook and cranny hiding potential profit, and started squeezing people harder and harder for everything. Why sell a product once, then beg the customer to beg when you could make your software a service and get a steady steam of money on the month?
I think the main issue is not many people notice this change and won't change anything about their usage habits to make a point that they won't stand for it. Just look at the average persons reaction to horrible breaches of privacy with Facebook or any number of huge events. Most people just say "Well I have nothing to hide" and just don't care. I can't imagine a internet where this enshittification doesn't keep progressing like cancer.