Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary’s has awarded the title of ‘word of the year’ to the term “enshittification”, which it describes as “The gradual decline in the quality of a service or product, particularly online platforms, due to a focus on profit maximization”.
The term was coined in 2022, by author Cory Doctorow, who stated, “We’re all living through the enshittocene, a great enshittening, where the services we rely on are turning into giant piles of shit.”
Though this new word is unfamiliar to use, it encapsulates particularly the experience of social media users in today’s age, where trolls, extremists and other unwanted elements diminish the value and utility of platforms.
The committee who chose the word “enshittification” described it as “a very basic Anglo-Saxon term wrapped in affixes that make it sound almost formal, almost respectable.”
The author who came up with the term, Doctorow, explained that this phenomenon followed a three-stage process.
First, the platforms would treat their users well, then they would exploit them for the benefit of their business customers and finally they betray their business customers as well so they can have all the value for themselves.
“It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing. It’s even terrifying,” he said.
The Macquarie Dictionary committee also gave honorable mentions to a few other terms like “right to disconnect” and “rawdogging.”
However, “enshittification” not only won the committee’s vote but also took home the people’s choice award.
“This word captures what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives right now,” the committee explained.
Doctorow has also added a fourth stage to the phenomenon where the platform itself is destroyed. He states that everyone has a stake in taking part in “disenshittification” as well and dismantling big tech.
