Here's an example of a side effect: Every place on earth has unsafe levels of plastic in the rainwaterEvery place on earth has unsafe levels of plastic in the rainwater
See Outside the Safe Operating Space of a New Planetary Boundary for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). (They're also in fish.)
You can and should Minimize your plastic consumption, e....
Seems bad. How do we do less of this?
When considering a change, especially a technological innovation, remembering that Technology doesn't necessarily solve a real problemTechnology doesn't necessarily solve a real problem
The Neil Postman "What is the problem to which cruise control is the answer?" anecdote is a good example.
Even when a technological innovation does solve a real problem, remember to Consider sid... is a start.
But even if it does solve a real problem, like "food sticking to cookware," there's no guarantee that the benefit will outweigh the negative side effects.
This is hard, because we only have to answer one question to determine if there's a benefit, but we have to answer infinite hypothetical questions to assess all the side effects.
The right amount of time to consider side effects is not "infinite" but it's also not "meh whatever we'll be fine."
Default to non-adoption of technological innovations that solve non-critical problems. Revisit side effects of the tech you do use on a regular basis. And Be careful when optimizing something you can easily measureBe careful when optimizing something you can easily measure
It's easy to measure clicks on a website, and reasonbly simple to optimize for clicks. But clicks don't make you money.
It's easy to measure revenue, and not too hard to optimize for it. But that....
(See Put your phone awayPut your phone away
Going no-phone for a full day is always challenging and always relaxing.
You sleep better when you have a couple no-phone hours before bed.
Using your phone is bad for your posture.
You already ... and Don't let social media make you miserableDon't let social media make you miserable
Advice from a random NCBI paper¹:
Seek to maximize:
Positive interactions
Social support
Social connectedness
Seek to minimize:
Negative interactions
Social comparisons
¹ source
(....)