The EnshAIttification of Day One

The unnecessary tweak to the keyword in the title refers to Cory Doctorow’s term, which describes the systematic, gradual decline in the quality and user experience of online platforms and digital services. My variation is unnecessary because it doesn’t enhance the meaning beyond centring the reason for this decline: AI. But I have included it for emphasis. Up until recently, Day One had resisted enshittification, although its purchase by Automattic, the owners of the now-bloated WordPress and Jetpack, should have signalled this was coming. I’ve used Day One for more than a decade. It was an excellent journalling app. Private, minimal, easy to use, with excellent features such as geolocation, weather, ‘On this Day’, and book printing. Features that got out of the way and either worked quietly in the background or appeared only when you summoned them. That’s changed. Now there are new subscription tiers. Previously, the tiers were Free and Premium. Simple. Premium included sync and a…