this was in the tags of a very funny screenshot and i didnt want to derail there, so i will make a new post: dishwashers manufactured after 2013 take MUCH less water than washing dishes by hand. it seems counterintuitive but it is provably true and has been tested extensively. if you are washing dishes by hand as a way to lower utility bills you are shooting yourself in the foot. dishwashers also sterilize dishes and in general are much much much much cleaner than hand washing, which becomes extra important if you live with anyone who has immune issues, long covid, cancer, etc. if you tried to hand wash your dishes with the temperature possible inside a dishwasher you would get serious burns. it's not physically possible to hand wash dishes and get them cleaner (as in, the amount of bacteria and other contaminants on the surface) than you can with a dishwasher. its almost like an autoclave in there

also do not use sponges to clean things but thats a different post

oh my god i went looking for the sponge bacteria post and found these tags. everyone on this website needs to pay attention in school when they teach you about germ theory. i personally know four people who became permanently crippled from getting basic bacterial food poisoning once. bacteria does in fact make you drop dead, but more often it just makes you permanently ill for the rest of your life. i know "hygiene hypothesis" (being too clean makes you sicker in the long run) was big for a while in the 2000s but its been mostly debunked

it's obvious and inarguable that having a dishwasher at all is a first world thing, and only the wealthy or lucky members of the first world. it's a luxury. what im trying to say is that if you have access to one of these luxury machines, please use it. i run into so many people who have dishwashers and dont use them and then backpat themselves about water saving and cleanliness, both of which are measurably worse with handwashing. its not virtuous or practical or efficient to wash dishes by hand if you have a functional dishwasher.

Also, you don't need to rinse the dishes off before loading. That just wastes more water. Modern dishwashers use bladed impellers (basically a mini garbage disposer) that chops up organic stuff on its way down the drain. So as long as you're not tossing bones or huge chunks of food in there, it can cope with normal amounts of detritus. If you've got an absolutely filthy load of dishes, you can toss a 2nd detergent pod into the cutlery basket as a pre-washing treat.

@croaksac linked to this excellent Technology Connections video about dishwashers in another reblog chain, here it is