Search

Home > On the Media > The Ensh*ttification of Everything
Podcast: On the Media
Episode:

The Ensh*ttification of Everything

Category: News & Politics
Duration: 00:50:38
Publish Date: 2024-06-21 19:12:55
Description:

Why does every social media platform seem to get worse over time? This week’s On the Media explores an expansive theory on how we lost a better version of the internet, and the systems that insulate Big Digital from competition. Plus, some solutions for fixing the world wide web.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Cory Doctorow, journalist, activist, and the author of Red Team Blues, on his theory surrounding the slow, steady descent of the internet. 

[15:59] Brooke asks Cory if the troubles that plague some corners of the internet are specific to Big Digital, rather than the economy at large—and how our legal systems enabled it all. Doctorow explains how the antitrust practices of the early 1900s went awry, and what exactly he means by “twiddling.” 

[31:29] Cory and Brooke discuss possible solutions to save the world wide web.  Among them: better enforcement of privacy laws, interoperability, and the ever elusive "right-to-exit." Plus, hear about the one industry that so far has been mostly immune to the forces of "enshittification." 

This episode originally aired on our September 1, 2023 program, How Big Tech Went to Sh*t.

Further reading:

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.

Total Play: 0

Some more Podcasts by WNYC Studios

70+ Episodes
Indivisible 90+     4
100+ Episodes
Trump, Inc. 100+     10+
1K+ Episodes
On the Media 200+     100+
400+ Episodes
The United S .. 30+     10+
200+ Episodes
Note to Self 40+     10+
200+ Episodes
Nancy 300+     10+
90+ Episodes
Radiolab Pre .. 500+     20+
50+ Episodes
Late Night W .. 50+     5