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If you find yourself needing to travel by air these days, you'll likely encounter a slew of additional fees and inconveniences that can make your journey less comfortable. Unless you're prepared to wear multiple layers of clothing during your flight, you may be required to pay extra for your baggage. Choosing a seat next to your travel companion might also come at an additional cost, and you may find yourself shelling out for an aisle seat, extra legroom, or even a business class upgrade if you desire more space.

Even basic amenities like in-flight water, early boarding to secure overhead bin space, and the use of the bathroom are not immune from fees in some cases. This trend of charging for various services and features has become commonplace in the airline industry, and it's a strategy that has proven lucrative for the industry, generating billions of dollars in revenue from assigned seat fees and baggage fees in recent years.

The concept behind this approach has been described as "calculated misery," a term coined by Time Wu, a Columbia Law School professor, nearly a decade ago. It involves deliberately degrading basic services, making them less comfortable or convenient, to incentivize passengers to pay extra to escape these discomforts.

However, this trend isn't limited to the airline industry. It has also permeated the digital realm, where online platforms have increasingly added advertisements and restrictions to their free services. Users are then presented with the option to pay for ad-free, premium experiences. This approach, known as "enshittification," involves companies initially offering good services to users, then implementing restrictions and advertisements to benefit business customers, and finally, charging users to alleviate the resulting inconveniences.

This trend is not limited to the digital world. In the realm of consumer goods, planned obsolescence is a parallel concept, where products are intentionally designed to have a limited lifespan, pushing consumers to replace them with newer models rather than repair them. This practice is driven by the desire for endless growth, with companies lobbying against right-to-repair laws that would allow consumers to fix their own products.

The article suggests that these trends are the result of a capitalist system prioritizing endless growth, with a small group of companies dominating industries and manipulating consumer choices. It raises concerns about the acceptability of imposed misery and environmental destruction, especially as switching costs for services and products continue to rise.

In conclusion, the article highlights the growing prevalence of calculated misery, enshittification, and junkification in various industries, driven by profit motives and the pursuit of growth. It calls for greater competition and consumer empowerment to mitigate these ends and improve the quality of products and services.