Google addict, I am not

In class today, we discussed the immense power and presence of Google in our everyday, cyber-lives. As we began the discussion of ‘are we addicted to Google and too reliant on its services,’ Dr. Macek pulled up the internet for an example. First he had to get to Google. Giving a brief overview of what we would be talking about, he inadvertently gave us the best example he possibly could have hoped to present. From the North Central College homepage, he typed the word ‘Google’ into the Google toolbar at the top of the browser in order to get to the Google homepage. I could not help but giggle to myself from the irony. Strangely, no other laugh exuded from the class. Did no one notice? Or is the idea of finding everything from the Google toolbar such an ingrained idea that we don’t even think about the irony of navigating to the Google homepage from the Google toolbar? Either way, I just had to introduce this post with this timely example.

I would not say I am addicted to Google. I sometimes wonder if I am an old-fart living in a 22-year-old’s body. I am a Facebook addict. That I will not deny. But, aside from social networking, iTunes, blogging, Skype and researching for classes, my internet access is very narrow in what I use. I use Google if I have a question I can’t answer. Or if I need to find a bit of news. I would say I use the Google search engine once, or twice a day. So, for me, it isn’t that big of time-consumer in my life. BUT, I would say I have a particular reliance on the services of Google. If I have a question I need a quick answer to, or if I want to learn something in the news, I think of no other place to go to than Google. If Google were suddenly to vanish, I wouldn’t know what to do. I hate yahoo, msn and ask for no other reason than they aren’t Google. And because of the 2006 refusal of Google to turn over their search information. I thought that was admirable. But, in terms of the services for navigating the web that Google provides, I consider no other search engine. And, for that, I would admit to being reliant on Google for the services it provides.