Hard and soft problems

Stare straight at the sun long enough, and you’d probably go blind.

You only need to try it once (I wouldn’t recommend it) to realize that what everyone told you about the dangers of doing such an activity is true.

But the world seems to grow more complicated the farther we move from physical danger. (Other examples: driving without a seatbelt, staying away from heroin, and so forth.)

Yet, when we culturally accept drinking Monster energy drinks or allowing kids to use social media, the culture can be relatively quiet.

We hear about hard skills (tangible skills) and soft skills (interpersonal skills), and perhaps warnings can follow a similar arc.

So if we say, social media isn’t inherently bad for you, it’s only when you overuse it. But the problem is that almost everyone overuses it. We can think of this as a “soft” problem (we still need a better term). And when we juxtapose with, say, operating a vehicle while being distracted as a “hard” problem.

In other words, are consequences obvious and immediate, or are they long-term and ambiguous?