Need to find directions? Google it!
Want to stalk your blind date? Google him!
Google Search, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Scholar, Google Email... It seems everything we could possibly want from the internet is provided by Google. Is this convenient? Yes. Does it make us less self sufficient? Yes. There is a fine line between efficient and lazy, and quite frankly I'm not sure how much longer that line can exist thanks to Google.
When Google first arrived on the scene, it was the next-best-thing. We long awaited a creation so convenient, a portal to the infinity of the internet if you will. The internet became easy and accessible. So much information was at our fingertips, literally. I personally use Google every day and like every other piece of technology I have, such as my Blackberry, I now feel like I can't live without it. Google is no longer a novelty, but a lifeline in a way for my personal, social, and academic life.
With all of the greatness that Google has to offer, is there a downside? If so, what is it? As technology has evolved, so has the almighty Google. One day, predicted typing all of a sudden just showed up. I typed a word and ‘Google to the rescue’ guessed my next move. Maybe some people find it helpful, but I personally find it rather annoying. After months of annoying predictions that for the most part are never right, I didn’t think it could get any worse. However, to my dismay, today I noticed predicted typing got even more predictable! Go figure. Not only did Google guess my every word, but the search results changed with every letter I typed. The screen was literally flashing before my eyes with search result updates after every new word. In reality this only happened 5 times and the ‘flashing’ wasn’t that intense; but nonetheless, Google couldn’t wait 30 seconds for me to finish what I actually wanted to search for.
I understand that technology is evolving and getting “faster and better,” but can faster actually be worse? I vote YES. I’m by no means anti-internet or anti-technology, but there comes a point when I think this new found “efficiency” is robbing us of a) Self Sufficiency or b) Actual Efficiency. By predicting our search, Google is assuming it knows what we’re looking for better than we do. Since when does Google call the shots? I guess since now. As if our self sufficiency hasn’t been dwindling already for the past decade, now the internet doesn’t even think we can properly search. Here’s the clincher—Google does this super fast search to try to have what we need waiting for us before we can finish typing, but what’s meant to be efficient is actually not efficient. "Efficiency" is robbing us of efficiency.
Technology has been taking the place of human effort for some time and continues to do so full force. I understand that what once was the next-best-thing is not anymore. There is always a next-best-thing and it’s almost as if technology has to keep getting more complicated, and in my case more annoying, to stay on the radar. With the world evolving as it is, I suppose this is now protocol and simply searching the internet is now a just mere pastime. Who would have thought?
Mallory.
While well written, I disagree about Google. While yes, it is becoming a monopoly, it also extremely convenient. The time saved searching with Google or using one of their many other features, allows us more time to partake in more important activities, such as hitting Herbie's, breaking into churches, playing UNO and most importantly, building forts.
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