Machines aren't people ... but people buy machines, or the services based off of them. And as these get increasingly complex, and the market grows, that market becomes less specifically skilled and discerning, more easily swayed by bogosity. Audiophile equipment and wine markets exhibit many of these characteristics, and are well-known case studies. Bicycles are another example. With digital computers specifically, Moore's Law helps offset some of the worst abuses, but the intrusion of mass-market crap still occurs, ironically all the more in more competitive and larger markets.
You also get a demand that things become easy and reliable. Niche audiences are much more tolerant. They will fix things themselves and not complain, or even remember, because tinkering is so normal to them.
When the mass market comes they expect absolutely zero friction.
True audiophile equipment might have some problematic effect, but for even the high end consumer level, class-D basically obsoletes everything else, from tiny phone speakers to multi kilowatt rock concert gear.
Even large appliances, one of the only things that seem to have gotten less reliable, might be a win. Newer stuff is lighter and uses less energy, and costs less, so the money spent and environmental footprint probably isn't as bad as they say for most people.
Clothes seem to be very slightly less durable, and have microplastic issues, but a pair of shorts from Target can still last a decade or even more if you know any repair, and it's not like cotton is ecologically perfect either.
Food is really commonly cited, but I suspect it is easier than any time in the past to eat well. Whole grains weren't a mainstream thing until recently. Plant protein wasn't a thing. There was a long era of things like partially hydrogenated oils, and before that, there was just straight up contamination as an everyday concern.
Technology does not have that effect, because machines aren't people. There's essentially nothing about Linux that I don't like way better now than when I started.
Lightweight tech may lose it's lightweight status, but it still runs extremely fast because of the optimization that "bloatware" usually has.
If people think it's gone downhill, then it was probably always as much of an artistic work as a technical one.
Hacker News isn't a specific tech project, and is closer to a real community, so in this case I would expect that it would go directly toiletwards if it got big.
I think the main factors are content overload and a small group of users that quickly ruin anything.
That group often isn't there at the beginning, because they don't start stuff(Making an effort is uncool), but they do like to show up and shitpost.
It doesn't take many people who really don't care, to turn a place into 4chan. Moderation can't even fix it, you just get kidz bop 4chan lite.