Sydney:
Australia's quasi-official Macquarie Dictionary has chosen 'enshittification' as the word of 2024, tapping into a growing realization that once-great digital services are bad and getting worse.
“ENSHITTIFICATION – Noun. Informally, the gradual deterioration of a service or product caused by a reduction in the quality of the service provided, especially from an online platform, and as a result of the pursuit of profit.”
The word, coined by writer Cory Doctorow, refers to a process in which apps or digital platforms are incredibly useful at first but gradually deteriorate as they try to turn a profit.
Social media platforms such as
Doctorow explains enshittification as the reason why Facebook users' feeds fill up with junk, Google search results are full of ads and sponsored content, and why Amazon promotes cheap, poorly made products no matter what a customer searches for.
Enshittification defeated words like “brain rot,” “overtourism,” and “rawdogging.”
It was voted word of the year by the dictionary's expert committee, but was also voted “People's Choice Winner”.
It is “a very basic Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in additions that elevate it to almost formal and almost respectable,” the committee said.
“This word represents what many of us think is happening to the world and so many aspects of our lives right now,” the commission said.
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