While, as you point out, the benefits of modern life outweigh the disadvantages, that does not mean that we can just ignore those disadvantages. Precisely, and

While, as you point out, the benefits of modern life outweigh the disadvantages, that does not mean that we can just ignore those disadvantages. Precisely, and I'm glad you also picked up on what I considered to be the obvious point of the article. The commenter above (despite so magnanimously giving his valuable time over and over and over to educate the rest of us) appears to have completely missed this. As the article author himself clearly states, antibiotics have been a huge net positive for humanity, but this doesn't mean that they don't also have downsides. It is these downsides that the articles addresses; antibiotics are posited to play a role in the dramatically increasing incidences of immune system dysfunction that are now observed in westernized societies. Overuse of antibiotics not only leads to decreases in their efficacy, but can also destroy diversity in our microbiomes, damaging our immune systems, making us more vulnerable to pathogens and possibly also leading to developmental problems. Reducing overuse of antibiotics, especially in young children, should become a central priority for health systems, perhaps complemented with probiotics and similar measures.