The Next Big Idea Daily Why Does Everything Online Suck Now?
37 snips
Oct 30, 2025 
Cory Doctorow, an author and activist, dives into the concept of 'enshittification,' explaining how digital platforms have deteriorated. He discusses the three stages of platform decay and how manipulation of rules has exacerbated the problem. Doctorow highlights historical constraints that once prevented such decline and attributes current issues to weakened regulations and antitrust laws. To combat this, he advocates for stronger unions and privacy measures to restore user power online.
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Three-Stage Platform Decay
- Platforms follow a three-stage decay: delight users, monetize business customers, then extract value from everyone.
- Users stay because of lock-in like network effects, which lets platforms degrade experiences without losing them.
Twiddling: Dynamic Rule Changes
- Digitization enables
Real Examples Of Twiddling
- Doctorow gives concrete examples of 'twiddling' in the wild like Plexure and nurse-hiring apps.
- Plexure raises fast-food prices when you get paid and ShiftMed offers lower wages to nurses with higher debt.
