SELECT FOR UPDATE considered harmful in PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL's SELECT FOR UPDATE creates unnecessarily strong row locks that can harm database concurrency. Most UPDATE operations don't actually need FOR UPDATE locks since they don't modify key columns that could conflict with foreign key references. Instead, SELECT FOR NO KEY UPDATE should be used in most cases as it prevents lost updates without blocking concurrent INSERTs on referencing tables. The distinction exists because PostgreSQL uses different lock modes to maintain referential integrity - FOR KEY SHARE protects referenced rows from deletion while allowing non-key updates to proceed.