Are we addicted to Google?
Most of us want to deny the fact that the internet has taken over our lives. Unfortunately we know it's the truth. In the past years, Google has become our gateway to baking recipes, social media, quizlet answers, music, directions, and much more. Anytime we need answers to our questions, or a quick short cut to our most commonly used sites, Google is there. When you need to "look up" or search something these days we don't even use the word search. We say we're going to "Google it". Most of the time, we use it and don't even know it. Shedding light on how much we actually utilize it's functions, makes you question if we really are addicted to it. If we're talking about Google being a possible addiction, something that we just can't get enough of, is it possible that Google has too much power in our lives?
Lets break this down:
According to Medical News Today, "Addiction is a psychological and physical inability to stop consuming a chemical, drug, activity, or substance, even though it is causing psychological and physical harm".
If we are addicted to Google, we would possess this inability to stop using it, which is somewhat true. How lost would we be if we couldn't just start typing a description of whatever it is we wanted into our, more often than not already delegated to Google, internet search bar? How do we stop using something that we majority of the time don't even realize we are using. I don't even know what I would do if someone told me I couldn't use Google maps. Let's talk about the second part of the definition: "even though it is causing you psychological and physical harm". This is where we can look at Google's power over our lives and how it actually may be hurting us. We rely on Google more than we'd like to admit. We endanger our independence by repeatedly using it for things we may not even really need to use it for. We put our privacy at risk when we Google something about dog food and later see an ad for Purina in the margins of our most visited websites.
So to answer these questions:
Are we addicted to Google? - Yes.
Could it have too much power in our lives? - Yes.
Should we stop using it before its too late? - Good question, I'm not sure. Lets Google it...
Lets break this down:
According to Medical News Today, "Addiction is a psychological and physical inability to stop consuming a chemical, drug, activity, or substance, even though it is causing psychological and physical harm".
If we are addicted to Google, we would possess this inability to stop using it, which is somewhat true. How lost would we be if we couldn't just start typing a description of whatever it is we wanted into our, more often than not already delegated to Google, internet search bar? How do we stop using something that we majority of the time don't even realize we are using. I don't even know what I would do if someone told me I couldn't use Google maps. Let's talk about the second part of the definition: "even though it is causing you psychological and physical harm". This is where we can look at Google's power over our lives and how it actually may be hurting us. We rely on Google more than we'd like to admit. We endanger our independence by repeatedly using it for things we may not even really need to use it for. We put our privacy at risk when we Google something about dog food and later see an ad for Purina in the margins of our most visited websites.
Are we addicted to Google? - Yes.
Could it have too much power in our lives? - Yes.
Should we stop using it before its too late? - Good question, I'm not sure. Lets Google it...
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