enshittify

- To improve something in the opposite direction
- Make something go to shits

Parent 1: “Here’s a new sauce to enshittify your dinner.”
Child 1: “I’m getting my Master of Enshittification degree!”
Child 2: “I’ve enshittified 100 000 followers with my post on social media!”
Parent 2: “I’m proud of you all. Work was good today, we expect our release to enshittify the entire planet.

Also, Child 1, we have high hopes for you, if you work hard, you’ll enshittify the solar system.

And Child 2, at your current rate, you shall enshittify the Universe.”

by thrillwing March 11, 2026

Exshitstentialism

When you forget your phone when going for a dump and are left there to contemplate feeling untethered, lonely, and questioning your very existence.

Man, I forgot my phone the other day when I went for a shit. Total wave of exshitstentialism as I just sat there staring at the wall. Felt like shit, in a manner of speaking.

by Miscusername June 24, 2025

Enshitification

Enshitification (noun) or Enshitify (verb): refers to the gradual decline in quality of digital platforms and services, typically following a predictable pattern: platforms initially offer great value to attract users, then exploit those users to attract business customers, and finally abuse both groups to maximize profits for shareholders. This can also apply to organizations or individuals who premeditatively act with sentient malfeasance to make circumstances worse for themselves or for others.

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to describe how internet platforms become progressively worse over time. Examples include social media sites increasing ads and reducing organic reach, streaming services fragmenting content across multiple paid tiers, or search engines prioritizing paid results over useful information.

The process usually involves platforms leveraging their market dominance and user lock-in effects to extract more value while providing less utility, ultimately degrading the user experience in favor of short-term financial gains.

Example 1:

Wang: “Ashok, your LinkedIn enshitification KPIs are below expectations. Make them rise like your H-1B and RSUs depend on it.”

Ashok: “Wang, I will add videos of ‘Gen-Z Stare’ and ‘Marketing Tips from the Trailerpark’ to the feeds of everyone with at least twenty years of professional experience.”

Wang: “Very good. Now let’s ensure our enshitification KPIs and layoff some US citizens. That will get those RSUs up, too.”

Example 2:

SLC Station Owner: “I want to sell this here rim-shot signal with a loyal following and awesome deejays who know their stuff to Odd-Assy, IfartRadio, La Invasora de Culo, or K-Jeebus. Can you help me?”

Slick Radio Consultant: “Well, the first step in pre-sale enshitification is to take the music your loyal listeners enjoy, such as Stan Ridgway, Prefab Sprout and Ocean Blue and mix in some Coldplay, Evanescence and Linkin Park!”

SLC Station Owner: “That’s a great start there, sparky, but can you get me closer to sale? I need to retire to Mesquite!”

Slick Radio Consultant: “Fast-Track enshitifcation has you firing all of the beloved deejays, pissing-off the loyal listeners, and that check will clear in no time. Enjoy Mesquite!”

Example 3:

2024 American Voter: “I want to ensure rightful enshitification of 'murica for generations to come!”

2024 American Voter: Makes corresponding selection, belches, and goes for a Dairy Queen Hung'r'buster Meal afterwards

by Wing Lung and his Camry July 31, 2025

enshittification

A word first coined by author and journalist Cory Doctorow that describes the process by which thriving online platforms decay as they prioritize profits over user experience.

Ever since that popular social media site started flooding users with ads and reducing features, it’s clearly gone through enshittification.

by Emotional Cruiser September 20, 2025

Wage Enshittification

A specific form of wage deterioration where compensation not only fails to keep pace with costs but actively degrades in quality, reliability, and purchasing power over time. Drawing on the broader concept of enshittification (the tendency of platforms and systems to become progressively worse for users once they're locked in), Wage Enshittification describes how employers gradually erode compensation while workers remain trapped by lack of alternatives. Benefits are cut, hours are reduced, base pay is frozen while inflation rises, overtime is eliminated, bonuses become impossible targets—each change small enough to not trigger resistance, cumulative enough to produce steady immiseration. The wage doesn't just stay low; it actively rots.

Wage Enshittification Example: "When she started, the job paid enough to live. Five years later, with 'cost-saving adjustments,' benefit cuts, and inflation, she made less in real terms than at the beginning—not stagnation, but Wage Enshittification, the active decay of compensation."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026

Job Enshittification

The progressive deterioration of job quality, conditions, and meaning over time, while workers remain trapped by lack of alternatives. Job enshittification describes how positions that once offered dignity, security, or satisfaction are systematically degraded—responsibilities increase while pay stagnates, autonomy is replaced by algorithmic management, benefits are stripped, schedules become unpredictable, the work itself becomes meaningless or actively harmful. Each change is small, framed as "necessary adjustment," but cumulatively transforms decent jobs into traps. The job doesn't just stay bad; it actively worsens, year by year, until workers find themselves in positions they would never have accepted at the start.

Job Enshittification Example: "When she took the job, it had purpose, autonomy, and respect. Ten years later, with relentless 'optimization,' micromanagement, and meaningless metrics, she barely recognized it—not burnout, but Job Enshittification, the active decay of work itself."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026

Intentional Enshittification

The deliberate degradation of wages, jobs, products, or services by those who control them, as a strategy for extracting maximum value from locked-in users or workers. Intentional enshittification occurs when platforms or employers consciously decide to make things worse because they can—because switching costs are high, because alternatives have been eliminated, because workers are trapped, because users are addicted. Each degradation is calculated: how much can we cut before they leave? How much can we extract before they break? The process is not accidental but engineered, not inevitable but chosen.

Intentional Enshittification Example: "The app could have maintained quality, but once workers depended on it for survival, they intentionally degraded pay and conditions—not market forces, but Intentional Enshittification, the deliberate poisoning of your own product because you own the only well."

by Dumu The Void March 12, 2026