The internet is quietly rewiring your brain, and the very platforms you once loved are now exploiting your attention and sanity in ways that even seasoned neuroscientists find alarming.

Story Snapshot

• The term “enshittification,” coined by Cory Doctorow, captures the relentless decline in internet platform quality as profit trumps user trust.
• Neuroscientific evidence links manipulative algorithms and low-quality digital content to measurable harm in mental health and cognition.
• Major tech platforms, driven by shareholder interests, have created online environments that foster addiction, anxiety, and information fatigue.
• Regulators, researchers, and critics are raising alarms, but meaningful reform remains elusive as the internet’s decline accelerates.

The Birth and Spread of ‘Enshittification’

Cory Doctorow didn’t just invent a catchy term; he crystalized a phenomenon you likely experience daily. “Enshittification” describes the predictable decay of online spaces: platforms begin by wooing users with value, shift to prioritizing business clients, and finally, squeeze everyone for maximum shareholder gain. This pattern, once a slow creep, has accelerated since 2021 as AI-fueled content floods platforms and monetization strategies grow more aggressive. By 2023, the American Dialect Society and Macquarie Dictionary named “enshittification” the word of the year, confirming its viral resonance and the grim universality of this digital malaise.

Major platforms—Google, Facebook/Meta, Twitter/X—have rewritten their algorithms to maximize engagement and ad revenue, regardless of the fallout for users. The Department of Justice’s 2024 antitrust case against Google exposed internal memos revealing intentional downgrades to search quality for the sake of more ad impressions. Doctorow’s assertion that this process is not accidental but a calculated, profit-driven betrayal is supported by both leaked documents and regulatory investigations. The internet, once a commons, is now fenced off by a handful of corporate giants intent on extracting ever-more value from your attention and trust.

The Neuroscience of Digital Decay

Neuroscientists have begun to quantify what millions have felt: the internet isn’t just annoying—it’s neurologically hazardous. The design of modern platforms leverages the same psychological levers as gambling, flooding users with dopamine hits and engineered anxiety. Excessive exposure to algorithmic feeds, clickbait, and AI-generated sludge is linked to rising rates of anxiety, depression, and attention disorders. Experts warn that these digital environments mirror the brain effects of substance addiction, with symptoms ranging from compulsive scrolling to cognitive fatigue and real-world social withdrawal.

Peer-reviewed research cited by mainstream media, and interviews with top neuroscientists, confirm that the degraded online environment is not merely unpleasant. Prolonged immersion in these manipulative spaces can erode your ability to focus, regulate emotions, and evaluate information critically. Children and vulnerable groups, in particular, are at risk of lasting developmental harm. While some experts maintain that more research is required to determine causality, the correlation between “enshittified” platforms and mental health decline appears robust and troubling.

Power, Profit, and the Erosion of Trust

Tech executives—Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk—control the rules of the digital game. Their platforms wield disproportionate power over both users and creators, enabled by network effects and the absence of viable alternatives. Regulators, notably in the U.S. and Europe, scramble to keep pace with relentless innovation and relentless corporate lobbying. Meanwhile, content creators, small businesses, and everyday users find themselves whiplashed by opaque algorithm changes and bait-and-switch tactics that make building or maintaining an audience nearly impossible.

The economic, social, and political consequences are profound. Productivity drops as users waste time sifting through garbage content. Businesses pay more for less visibility. Misinformation, polarization, and public health crises gain new footholds. Trust in digital institutions erodes, undermining not only commerce but democracy itself. As Doctorow and other critics point out, this is not the inevitable outcome of technological progress but a direct result of deliberate, profit-seeking choices made by those at the top.

Resistance, Uncertainty, and the Road Ahead

Despite growing awareness, meaningful reform has yet to materialize. Regulatory bodies have begun investigating, but platforms remain largely unrepentant. Some propose that AI and smarter algorithms could be harnessed to counteract “enshittification,” filtering out low-quality content and restoring some semblance of order. However, skeptics argue that systemic change—not technological patches—is necessary to halt the decline.

User-driven alternatives, decentralized platforms, and collective action offer glimmers of hope, but the inertia of entrenched tech giants is formidable. For now, the internet’s descent into “enshittification” continues, leaving users to navigate a landscape that is not just frustrating, but, according to neuroscientists, potentially hazardous to their minds and well-being.

Sources:

Polymathic Being: The Enshittification of Everything
The Other Hand: Enshittification, anxiety and mountain tops
AOL: Yes, the Internet Is Starting to Suck More. Neuroscientists Say This ‘Enshittification’ Might Actually Hurt Your Brain