From Digital Dystopia to Utopia: A Call to Move Away From 'Enshittification'
From Digital Dystopia to Utopia: A Call to Move Away From 'Enshittification'
In the vividly coined term "enshittification," a concept emerges that encapsulates the gradual degradation of online platforms, a phenomenon not just limited to social media giants like Facebook but potentially encompassing the entire digital ecosystem.
The term, rooted in a blend of humor and critique, outlines a journey from user-centric beginnings to a phase where platforms prioritize profit over user experience, leading to a landscape cluttered with dissatisfaction and diminishing value. This trajectory isn't just a critique of business practices but a wake-up call highlighting a broader societal challenge: how to reclaim and ensure the digital spaces that shape our lives remain enriching and empowering.
The narrative of "enshittification" isn't just about digital decay; it's a rallying cry for proactive change, urging a shift from passive consumption to active, engaged stewardship of our digital futures.
Could this be the moment we pivot from highlighting problems to implementing solutions, moving from diagnosing the "enshittocene" to actively crafting a "disenshittified" digital age and build an internet that works for humanity instead of for profit-seeking organizations?
Read the full article on Financial Times.
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Dr. Mark van Rijmenam
Dr. Mark van Rijmenam is The Digital Speaker, a world-leading futurist and global AI keynote speaker who helps leaders decide what AI, and the technologies that follow it, mean for their business. He speaks to leadership teams at their retreats and to conference audiences worldwide, and his WAVE framework gives them a way of deciding that they keep using long after he has left the room. His Intelligence Age Scorecard measures how ready an organization is across the four WAVE pillars.
He holds a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney, is a Certified Speaking Professional and Global Speaking Fellow, and ranks among the world’s top futurists on the Global Gurus list (#1 in 2025, #3 in 2026). Salesforce named him one of its 16 leading AI voices. He has written six books, most recently Now What? How to Ride the Tsunami of Change, writes the Synthetic Minds newsletter on Substack, and founded Futurwise. Talk to his digital twin on WhatsApp: +1 (830) 463-6967.
