Google, not always your friend.

Google is a tool. Like any other tool it can be useful, it can also be dangerous. Take a screwdriver. You use that puppy to fix thing. It can also be used to kill someone with. EVERYTHING can be found with Google. How do you use it? Look for knowledge or look for things that back up your preconceived ideals? The first is a good thing. The second not so much.

Secondly, Google is making us dumber imo. We don't have to remember anything anymore. Instead of putting our gray matter to work, "Aw screw it. I'll just Google it." That's not good for us as a species. Memory is important. Hell that's how us older people got through school and life. Not anymore. And I'm guilty of this as well. Just something I've been pondering lately. Rant off.

Just because you Google something doesn't mean you don't remember it..

Google is responsible for a good portion of the useful and useless information I've retained. Just because you have a vast informational resource on a whim doesn't mean your brain stops chuggin'.

reply to post by intrepid


Kind of like the old, kids are using calculators now instead of their brain. I remember not being allowed to use a calculator when I was in school..and physics formulas were something you had to remember, I still remember a majority of them! Let's hope the grid doesn't go down permanently, we are going to have a lot of dumbed down people running around scared!

reply to post by intrepid


Look at the bright side. As google makes life easier and easier and they censor..ahem..sorry..they 'adjust results to better suit the user's interest'....it's having an interesting effect that really comes to mind by your OP here.

As they try and think more for us and do everything but read the results and teach us what we're looking for directly (They're working on that too, I hear) we're oddly forced to work HARDER and smarter than before to find those results we WANT, not what Google wants. So.... It's dumbing some people down while it's working to sharpen others and refine search skills otherwise left to grow soft.

See? There is always a bright side to everything.

I hate google. In the few previous years, I've noticed that I'm having less success finding what is relevant to my search query. Coupled with privacy issues, I've graduated to other search engines like www.duckduckgo.com

EDIT: I can't see how a search engine can make you dumber as it gives you easier access to information than previous generations. The only change I see is in the types of information are shifting in importance.

Originally posted by intrepid
Google is a tool. Like any other tool it can be useful, it can also be dangerous. Take a screwdriver. You use that puppy to fix thing. It can also be used to kill someone with. EVERYTHING can be found with Google. How do you use it? Look for knowledge or look for things that back up your preconceived ideals? The first is a good thing. The second not so much.

Secondly, Google is making us dumber imo. We don't have to remember anything anymore. Instead of putting our gray matter to work, "Aw screw it. I'll just Google it." That's not good for us as a species. Memory is important. Hell that's how us older people got through school and life. Not anymore. And I'm guilty of this as well. Just something I've been pondering lately. Rant off.

While I agree to some extent I will have to play the other side of the coin and hilight the benefits of google. As you said, all things can be used for good or bad (lack of better teminology).

You claimed google is making us "dumber" but I know you can agree when I say its also making us "smarter" because istead of utilizing all your "gray matter" for reduntant irrelivent jepordy information, you can "google' it find out what you need and move on to the more important information that you DO want to utilize your gray matter for.

I don't think you will find anyone arguing with you about memory being important...I live and take care of someone with alzheimer's and the memory is a prescous thing no arguement here from me. I think google stripping us of our ability to memorize anything at all is a bit of a reach though.

As you said google can be used for benefit or for failure, in extreme or in moderation.

I wonder if the generations before screw-drivers were "wary" of the screw-driver because it would make things too easy and they were fearful that a world full of screw-drivers meant they were going to lose their ability to tie-rope or hammer nails??

Well you can go back to encyclopedias, ill stick with google Ah grasshopper, then we will see who the super moderator is The student will become the teacher

reply to post by Sly1one


The very existence of Google means that one doesn't have to put things into their memory. As long as you have a computer. See Superman's post above. I remember the transition from not being allowed to use a calculator to when it became OK. That's not good for us. Seek more knowledge? Great, that is what Google is for. Use it for stuff you already have learned and can't be bothered to put the synapses to work? Not good.

From my perspective, Google is a household word. It means access to information. All the time, people come up to me to ask me a question. If I don't have the immediate answer, out comes the smartphone and a quick google search.

If I feel like messing with someone, I say, "I don't know." They look at me horrified, briefly, then humbly ask, "Well, can't you google it?"

I tend to remember most of what I've researched, and I'll BM a topic I want to research more. I call it information gathering.

Hmmm, the bad point? Can you ever learn too much?

Originally posted by intrepid
reply to post by Sly1one

 

Use it for stuff you already have learned and can't be bothered to put the synapses to work? Not good.

I don't get it, if you are using it for stuff you already "learned" that implies that you know it without google...so using google on that information is redundant unless you are trying to expand on it, at which point you are seeking knowledege again.

I think you are reffering to using google on information you haven't learned yet in which case you need google to reference that information for you. This can be good an bad.

For Example:

I don't "memorize" the last years stats for each individual player on an NFL team..I reference that information to expedite the "purpose" lets say for fantasy football...to memorize all that "jepordy" information is a waste of brain space and brain power. I would rather use that brain power analizing the statistics I just referenced and make good pics. etc....

this is just a one example.

I think people use google as a reference for information that isn't important enough to etch permanantly into memory but will help expand on an idea/thought/theory/knowledge etc...that IS important and already etched into the memory.

Originally posted by intrepid
reply to post by Sly1one

 

The very existence of Google means that one doesn't have to put things into their memory. As long as you have a computer. See Superman's post above. I remember the transition from not being allowed to use a calculator to when it became OK. That's not good for us. Seek more knowledge? Great, that is what Google is for. Use it for stuff you already have learned and can't be bothered to put the synapses to work? Not good.

True enough with the memory point you made, but there is also another issue, perhaps much more insididous because it's hidden and the majority of users are unaware of. Google wraps you in a bubble and defines user search results based upon past history.

Google uses an algorithm designed to provide the optimal search results for an individual user, not unlike targeted ads. Another words, if two users define search criteria exactly the same, the return search results will be different, tailored to what Google believes the individual is most likely to find interesting or relevant. How's that for letting Google define what you read and learn?

Put the search terms into a search engine that doesn't track your IP (Startpage, Scroogle, duckduckgo, etc.) and then compare results to Google search and note the difference in returns. Interesting, if nothing else.

Google filter bubble