Comment by jjav

Given that enshittification is such a common term today, that didn't exist a few decades ago, suggests the decay is real not just a stage of life perception.

Earlier computers, and particularly the early Internet, were all about personal freedom. The computer served you and the Internet was there to connect you with peers. So that was fun and the possibilities were literally infinite.

As the giant corporations and particularly the advertising industry (which destroys everything it touches) have slowly taken control, computers and the Internet no longer serve us, the people. We are now the product, to be fully monetized at every stage. Monetization alone is bad but not terrible, but in order to maximize monetization the corporations also need to exert control, thus all the increasingly restrictive technology where we are very clearly only a paying consumer kept within a box, not a participant.

While the technology world has been almost entirely enshittified, it's good to keep some optimism though. The fun parts still exist, they're just more effort to find.

On the Internet, support your hobby email lists (open participation, no corporate control), support enthusiast-driven forums and websites (independently run, no social media giants monetizing every message!). There are fewer of these but they do exist, support them. Or start your own! Don't let the megacorporations own your hobby interactions.

On the programming side, work on something hands-on fun if you like. When I want to geek out programming like it's 1995, I have a BSD box and work on a hobby project which is all in C. No vibe coding, no thousands of unknown npm dependencies, none of that junk. Just me and emacs and the kernel and the compiler. I don't work on it often but every now and then a weekend of real programming is very relaxing and reminds me how much fun it is.