Pluralistic: How twiddling enshittifies your brain (28 Jul 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Note
Curator's note
In today's digital age, we rely on platforms as cognitive prostheses, externalizing our memory and focus to tools like Google or GPS.
However, Cory Doctorow warns of a new phase of enshittification: "twiddling." To satisfy Wall Street's hunger for AI growth, tech giants are booby-trapping the UI elements you rely on most.
By taxing your muscle memory and hijacking your attention, they transform vital tools into obstacles, proving that if you’re too happy, they’re leaving money on the table.
Highlights
Enshittification is the theory that if platforms can shift value away from workers, suppliers, users and/or customers without facing consequences, we should expect that they will.
Someone in the org is always ready to believe that the customers (or workers, or suppliers) are too happy, and that this represents money left on the table
pluralistic.net Created: July 29, 2025 Updated: February 26, 2026 article