What are the common pitfalls to avoid when working with serialized data in a PHP application, especially when it comes to sorting and querying the data?

One common pitfall when working with serialized data in a PHP application is that it can be difficult to sort or query the data efficiently. To avoid this issue, consider storing the data in a structured format like JSON or using a database for better querying capabilities.

// Example of storing data in JSON format instead of serializing it
$data = ['name' => 'John', 'age' => 30, 'city' => 'New York'];
$jsonData = json_encode($data);

// Example of querying data from a JSON string
$data = json_decode($jsonData, true);
echo $data['name']; // Output: John