I lived in L.A. for ten years, experiencing the enshittification of the television industry from the periphery as it turned away from writers and creators toward “reality” shows, which are anything but. Nobody walks there, so I often had sidewalks to myself, and aside from meetups with friends it was a profoundly lonely place. It wasn’t until I moved to France that I wound up meeting many strangers—on park benches, the bus, at the grocery store—who were mostly other immigrants, our only commonality being the broken French we spoke to each other. It was fantastic.
My now-wife was a stranger I talked to on my first visit to France years before I moved.
Talk to strangers. You never know who they’ll turn out to be.
The internet - supposedly the bastion of equality when it started - has gotten us to where we are: the demise of democracy. Enshittification is a perfect word for it. Thank you for describing it so eloquently!
This is a great reminder.
I lived in L.A. for ten years, experiencing the enshittification of the television industry from the periphery as it turned away from writers and creators toward “reality” shows, which are anything but. Nobody walks there, so I often had sidewalks to myself, and aside from meetups with friends it was a profoundly lonely place. It wasn’t until I moved to France that I wound up meeting many strangers—on park benches, the bus, at the grocery store—who were mostly other immigrants, our only commonality being the broken French we spoke to each other. It was fantastic.
My now-wife was a stranger I talked to on my first visit to France years before I moved.
Talk to strangers. You never know who they’ll turn out to be.
The internet - supposedly the bastion of equality when it started - has gotten us to where we are: the demise of democracy. Enshittification is a perfect word for it. Thank you for describing it so eloquently!
I like this take. I agree that or common similarities are what kept us sane.
And, your style calmed me down. I think it evoked a compassion in me rather than an anger. Thank you.
Happy New subcriber.
-chris
Thank you, Chris. Appreciate the feedback.
So, I really enjoyed this piece. I agree with both your assessment of the problem, and your proposed solution.
However, miserable git that I am, I feel obliged to point out that online enshittification does not reflect our darkest instincts - not even close.
Should we fail to re-engage with each other on a truly human level, we may well find out just how dark those instincts can be.