Google. Google. Google. My lovely friend, Google. You have made life so much easier for myself and the rest of the world. You’ve provided me with countless pages of information: some extremely helpful and others filled with pointless entertainment. Sometimes, I don’t know how I can keep up with you. I can’t live life without you, Google. I love you Google. I just pray that you stay the same, my dear. You have saved my ass so many times. Ooh, Google…
And this is how the typical love letter to Google would sound like.
Unless you live in the dark ages (or you’re not that technologically savvy), then you know about Google. Google has been around since the late 90s, but it wasn’t until ~2004 that Google became such a household name. It’s safe to say that almost everyone uses Google. Whether you’re searching for answers to that take home test, doing research for a paper, looking for products, etc, Google has become the go-to-site of the 21st century. Type in one word and I guarantee that Google will provide you with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of sites to choose from. Not only that it will also provide you with images, videos, blogs, discussions and much more. If you have a smartphone, iPad or tablet you probably has Google as your default search engine.
With such a great amount of information that is easily accessible at the snap of your fingers, one has to think: Is Google really hindering us more than it’s helping us?
For instance 20 years ago, if you had a paper assigned to you and the due date was two weeks away, you knew then that you couldn’t wait until the day before to start it. Why? Because you had to go to the library get books and actually conduct research before you start writing your paper. Nowadays, people wait until the eleventh hour to get their papers done because they know that Google will provide the sites and you can pick and choose from the choices available to add to your paper. You can be done in a matter of hours without stressing and without breaking a sweat.
Also, I believe that it has made many of us lazy. We’d prefer the condensed versions of books we’re reading, television we’re watching, and news that’s being reported. Instead, of actually reading and writing and watching for ourselves, we’d rather see what Google will provide for us first. It’s easy to say “oh I Googled the synopsis of this book, or I read online what happened on yesterday’s episode of Grimm.” We rely on Google to do too much for us, instead of doing it ourselves.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that Google is a problem, but the way we, as people, abuse the usage of Google, is the problem. Being able to access that much information at any given time is overwhelming, to say the least. Our brains can only handle so much at a time before it starts to shut down on us. Therefore, I say close the computer from time to time. Turn off the phone and start doing somethings for yourself. You’ll realize the strength in it.