Is it just me, or is the digital universe getting worse by the day? I find many apps and web services to have become unecessarily complicated and increasingly frustrating to use. There’s often something that doesn’t work properly, or that is simply very badly designed. There are increasingly paywalls everywhere, and security measures are becoming so convoluted that I am often locked out of my own accounts.
Perhaps it’s me. Perhaps I’ve become digitally retarded as I’ve grown older. Could well be. But I’m sick and tired of being asked to provide ever more information about myself –information that is often completely irrelevant– and to have to jump through ever more security hoops. Every single website asks us if we’re willing to accept cookies, and in some cases now even some television channels…when watching ordinary TV! The Cookie Monster has never been so irritating.
Many apps, nowadays, get progressively worse with every new release. Google recently “improved” its mobile phone Photos app with all kinds of snazzy new AI features, but it removed a tool enabling manual perspective correction that is essential to any architect. This is just one example among many of a digital product that is no longer as good as it was before. Seems software designers are constantly having to incorporate increasingly useless gimmicks, bells and whistles. Why can’t they leave good enough alone? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Social media has become such crap that I am in the painful process of quitting it altogether. Algorithms increasingly post stuff from unfamiliar accounts, often fake news or spam, and when they do show posts by accounts I follow, then they’re always the same ones, leaving other accounts of friends out –I have to look them up manually. I already quit Facebook long ago, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Then I quit Twitter when it became X, followed by Instagram when Zuck started to suck bigtime. Only my LinkedIn is still active. While I was at it, I also quit Amazon, AirBnB, Booking, and many other platforms that use algorithms. As a result, my screen time has been reduced drastically and, as I never shop online anymore, I find myself enjoying more walks and bike rides in the city again.
And then there’s bureaucracy. Again, is it just me, or has paperwork become much more tedious and frustrating ever since it all went online? With digital bureaucracy, if there’s only so much as one tiny error or inconsistency in an online form, it won’t be admitted. In many cases even when there’s no error. And that’s after getting through all the security controls: one-time codes that must be entered within 60 seconds of being issued (that’s if they are even issued), or passwords that must be changed because they’re already more than 6 months old, God forbid. There are even verification procedures that involve codes being sent by good old snail mail from another country (where, wouldn’t you know it, there happens to be a postal strike).
Another thing digitization has done is remove human beings from the other end of many phone numbers. It’s now impossible to talk to a real person at a company unless, of course, they work in the sales department. But once you’re a customer, forget it, they’re no longer interested in you, only in your money. How many valuable hours are wasted over the phone listening to and selecting dozens of options only to discover, when you finally get through, that the line is busy or that there’s nobody there. “Please leave your name and number and we’ll call you back.” Ha ha, that has never happened.
Government agencies are also increasingly inaccessible, especially in Spain, which I predict will soon suffer a complete bureaucratic meltdown. It used to be possible to just show up at the Spanish social security office or wherever and wait in a long line, but at least eventually you had your turn. Now, appointments must be booked online, which sounds great, except that appointments are never available at many Spanish government agencies because insiders steal them and then sell them for a small fortune.
Some digital products are great. I love exploring Google Earth, for example. I use Google Maps maps every day, though unfortunately it now contains so many advertisements that it’s almost impossible to read its actual content. And being able to consult all sorts of information and stats online is fantastic. Who doesn’t like chatting on a video call or receiving photos from loved ones via WhatsApp? No, many digital platforms are absolutely great and have improved life. But lately, it seems that many are heading over to the dark side.
There was a point when tech and digitization made life easier, but lately it is starting to make life worse. Jobs are being decimated as people are being replaced by robots and AI. How is the economy supposed to work when humans are increasingly being made redundant? Meanwhile, professions that robots or AI have still not been able to replace, such as nurses and doctors, are reportedly suffering more verbal and physical abuse than ever. With so much digitization, it’s no wonder we humans are losing our humanity. Perhaps it’s time to bring back web 1.0 and put a stop to all this enshittification.
To that end, I hereby announce that this blog, criticalista.com, will shut down once a selection of its content is published as a physical book (hopefully within about a year). Stay tuned!
Criticalista 