It's such a hard question to answer, because software doesn't exist in a vacuum. Hopefully this example is relevant:
You're a software developer maintaining an eCommerce platform, on the one hand your platform helps perpetuate low margin and wasteful consumerism, on the other hand your software enables small businesses to compete in the new online world.
Consumerism is bad, but commerce is as old as civilization and supports all of our lifestyles, so on a macro level you're in a tough spot. You're a talented developer putting their skills to work building something the community needs, I personally think that means you're doing good work in the context of your society, but it is difficult to say if it's making the world a better place.
Social media is the same. On the one hand, it connects family and friends, on the other it drives narcissisms, consumerism and misinformation.
You almost have to try and calculate the "Net Good" or "Net Bad" of a type of software and see how the cards fall. For social media I would suggest that it's currently in a "Net Bad" situation, causing more harm than good for example.
You're a software developer maintaining an eCommerce platform, on the one hand your platform helps perpetuate low margin and wasteful consumerism, on the other hand your software enables small businesses to compete in the new online world.
Consumerism is bad, but commerce is as old as civilization and supports all of our lifestyles, so on a macro level you're in a tough spot. You're a talented developer putting their skills to work building something the community needs, I personally think that means you're doing good work in the context of your society, but it is difficult to say if it's making the world a better place.
Social media is the same. On the one hand, it connects family and friends, on the other it drives narcissisms, consumerism and misinformation.
You almost have to try and calculate the "Net Good" or "Net Bad" of a type of software and see how the cards fall. For social media I would suggest that it's currently in a "Net Bad" situation, causing more harm than good for example.