Are You Eating a Credit Card Every Week?

vlogbrothers0 HN recommenders · 2022–2023
256K views · explainer · evergreen · Uploaded 2022-06-17

A vlogbrothers video tracing how the claim that people eat a credit card of plastic every week spread. It walks through the funded talking point, the misleading amplification, and the peer review that missed it.

Linked in microplastics and recycling threads as a debunking of a viral statistic.

Watch on YouTube

3 comments from Hacker News

@Zacru2022 · in “Review of 17α-ethynylestradiol in water across 32 countries: Estrogenic effects”

>We eat a credit card's worth of microplastic every week No, we don't. Here is a 4 minute video explaining how this bit of misinformation came to be spread across the internet. [VIDEO]

CriticalView on HN
@peteforde2022 · in “A remarkable kid has died in Newcastle, Utah”

I consider this rebuttal to be exceptionally well-argued, and I thank you for it. You do raise several excellent points, and I have no interest in being a shill for the LDS church. And yes, Bari Weiss should be considered a red flag. My bad for letting her name slide past without a sniff test. I stand by my point that we shouldn't be so damn skeptical that there are exceptional young people, because I've known them personally and arguably flown in the same formations. (I'm no prodigy, but I was encouraged into tech and business very early. Timing and privilege factor in, too.) That said, I concede to your assertion that it's unacceptable for me to declare the statements in this piece to be "verifiable facts" at this time. As penance, I offer this gem: [VIDEO]

@hackeman3002023 · in “Think that your plastic is being recycled? Think again”

Good article, but unfortunately it propagates the oft quoted "you eat a credit card worth of plastic each week" myth. Good video here explaining why it likely isn't true [VIDEO]

CriticalView on HN