Taylor Lorenz’s Power User
Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

The Real Reason Instagram Feels Worse: The Case Against Social Media Doomerism

October 21, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Case Against Social Media Doomerism

"More people like social media than don't, or say it has a positive impact than don't." That claim, from NYU cyber ethnographer Ruby Thielot, sits at the center of a deliberately provocative argument he published on the Andreessen Horowitz Substack: that "enshittification," the widely accepted theory of platform decay popularized by writer Cory Doctorow, doesn't actually describe what's happening to social media. Thielot's piece went viral, drew a rebuttal from 404 Media, and sparked the kind of debate that Taylor Lorenz wanted to explore on her podcast Power User—not because she fully agrees with him, but because she thinks the conversation around social media has become too one-note, too defeatist, and too convenient for lawmakers pushing speech restrictions.

The Satisfaction Data That Complicates the Narrative

Doctorow's 2022 theory holds that platforms start by serving users well, then shift to serving business customers (advertisers), and finally extract all value for themselves until the platform dies. Thielot doesn't dispute this pattern for services like Uber, Lyft, or Airbnb—he told Lorenz he "famously loathes Airbnb." But he argues social media is different because it's free, and the data doesn't support the claim that users think it's getting worse.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Episode Intro & Ad Read** - Taylor Lorenz opens the episode with sponsor reads for Base44 and NyQuil, then introduces the central debate and guest.
  • 2 (01:00) **The Thesis: "Enshittification Isn't Real"** - Taylor frames the episode around Ruby Thielot's viral essay arguing against the concept of enshittification, which he calls "platform narcissism."
  • 3 (03:18) **Ruby's Motivation & The A16Z Platform** - Ruby explains how the piece came together and why he chose to publish it with a16z.
  • 4 (05:55) **The Core Argument: Consumer Satisfaction Data** - Ruby presents evidence that user satisfaction with social media has not actually declined.
  • 5 (08:41) **The Media's Negative Bias vs. Real-World Sentiment** - Ruby argues that media coverage and "discourse" create a false impression of universal hatred for social media.
  • 6 (11:52) **Lock-In Theory vs. Personal Agency** - Ruby strongly disputes the idea that users are "locked in" to platforms.
  • 7 (16:26) **Taylor's Patreon & Substack Pitch** - Taylor inserts a mid-roll request for listener support, noting her content is demonetized and funded entirely by her audience.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Taylor Lorenz

Show Notes

Is "enshittification" real, or are we just refusing to take accountability for our own screen time? 

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In this episode of Power User, I sat down with NYC-based cyber ethnographer, designer, and NYU professor Ruby Thelot to debate his viral and controversial Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) essay, "Enshittification Isn't Real".

While Cory Doctorow's famous theory of enshittification argues that tech platforms inevitably decay as they extract value from users and businesses, Ruby argues that when it comes to social media, the data tells a completely different story. We dive deep into American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) polling, the myth of platform "lock-in," and why he thinks blaming Big Tech algorithms disempowers everyday internet users.

Plus, we get into a heated debate over the rise of "paratechnology" (buying hardware like the Brick or apps like Opal to restrict your own phone use), why people are returning to single-purpose devices like the iPod, why you should stop using Instagram to text your friends, and how the bipartisan push for "Kids Online Safety" laws and age verification is a Trojan horse that helps Meta harvest more data while destroying anonymous free speech online.

🔥 Support Power User: I have no ongoing advertisers on this channel, so every dollar of your support makes a massive difference! 

Subscribe to my Substack newsletter or join the Patreon below to keep independent tech journalism alive:

Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠         

Support my work on Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠ 


Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

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