Post #2446695

2026-04-16 08:39 UTC

A thing about ‘enshittification’ is that while it’s absolutely a real and measurable effect in online services/networks, the notion that all things are getting worse generally over time is also an *ideological* one which we’re primed to see, it’s called declinism, and societies which experienced a shift to modernity longer ago are more subject to it. The English are sick with it. It’s a reactionary project.

Replies (4)

@liamvhogan@aus.social 2026-04-16 08:41

It’s a particular habit of tech and tech adjacent people of a [cough] certain age [cough] to nostalgise about their experience of ‘online’ in past times. I’m sorry, bad news here: things weren’t necessarily better! You were just younger, more good looking, healthier, with a future you didn’t know.

Open ##2446696
@fsvo@old.mermaid.town 2026-04-16 11:22

@liamvhogan@aus.social the idea that all sublunary things are subject to decay was received wisdom for such a long time, you have to be drunk on California juice to think it's novel enough to need a new word

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@mike805@noc.social 2026-04-16 15:09

@liamvhogan@aus.social Appliances OTOH suck. Washer lasted 25 years, next one lasted 3. I fixed a fridge from the 90s with a new defrost thermostat, a two-wire component I can test with a meter. Good luck fixing a Samsung or LG fridge, just don't buy those. We need to figure out how to impose minimum lifespans on appliances and tech.

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@benjamineskola@hachyderm.io 2026-04-17 16:35

@liamvhogan@aus.social Doctorow in particular I think wants to argue that capitalism in general was better in the past and modern capitalism is a new and particularly bad thing. Which would be news to the people of the 19th and early 20th centuries, anyway.

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