Breaking Free from My Google Obsession
Learning to rely on my brain more, and Search Engines less.
I google everything. Or just about.
I google recipes to cook and restaurants to try. I google shops and products, movies and books. I google when I can’t remember the name of that one actor in that movie from the nineties. I google health and fitness questions. I google questions about how to start a blog, plant a garden, or get involved in my community. I google any and all queries that come to mind. And it’s exhausting.
I’m not alone in this phenomenon either. As part of the Google Generation, I grew up with the internet from an early age. I remember first learning about search engines and using them to find information. I was in third grade. Back then my teacher touted Mamma.com and AltaVista as the go-to online search tools, both of which no longer exist as search engines. My searches used to look up facts as we learned about Australia and sea animals. They were basic and clunky.
As I got older, the searches only became more frequent and more important. By high school I had a smartphone, my own personal laptop, and a tablet. Three separate devices I could use to search anything and everything at any time of the day. It’s how I wrote research papers, learned about interesting new subjects, and chatted with friends in faraway places.
