Anomie and retrieval
Earlier today, I posted this on the microblogs (Twitter, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon):
I recently came across a word/definition that aptly described the systemic deterioration of institutions, experiences, skills combined with our inability to act/intervene. But,
I cannot remember what it was.
I do not remember where I read it.
And it is driving me insane.
When Nitin Pai suggested that the word was ‘enshittification’ (which at least 1 other person suggested), I clarified:
No, that wasn’t it. This was like enshittification at scale combined with helplessness and ennui.
He then suggested ‘Anomie’ (So did @archimags, who also acknowledged using Twitter’s Grok). That sounded familiar, but I still wasn’t sure. I needed the context of where I’d read it to be certain. I checked my notes, annotations, browser history, downloaded a digital version of the last book I read and did a word search - nothing.
I joked:
If I determine that the answer to 2 is a reel, I will cry.
Anyway, as I jogged my memory a little more, it dawned on me that the joke, was in fact, unfunny, and highly probably too. I did, indeed, come across this on a reel on Instagram. I can remember it now, it starts with a man looking confused (or shocked?) about something and then transitions to a woman who explains the concept of anomie (their faces are still blurry). I haven’t found the video again, because there doesn’t seem to be a way to search for it, and I it looks I did not save/bookmark it (very unlike me, tbh)🤷♂️.
Yes, I did cry in tears of a person who takes themselves too seriously. But that’s beside the point.
There are many threads to pull, but the one I will pull on is of retrieval. Some time ago, I had said
We’re all sharing images/screenshots of well-written/researched articles, which is just terrible for archival and retrieval.
Being unable to retrieve/search for information in this way makes me uncomfortable. The anomie video doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but, at a time where information is constantly contested, the inability to easily retrieve it is a huge challenge. The video format, unlike text, does not (so far) lend itself well to do this. (I am wondering though, why transcripts aren’t searchable. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be something.) But this matters because more and more of our information is starting to live either primarily or solely as video.
