Why Google Spoilt The World

I am one of the "fortunate" ones to know the world before Google came into being. For the record, let me state a fact: Internet existed before Google & people used internet without Google. There were also several search engines (my favorite was Altavista) before Google, though these were exclusively used by very few people with Internet access & know-how to use.

     There are many people who will vouch for the many "benefits" that Google provides to their day-to-day lives. Some of them will go on to the extent of stating that life could not have existed before Google or mock at such a world and equate "modern/advanced" life with the presence of Google. Though i agree with some of these "benefits" of Google to some extent, i would argue that life was simpler & slower in the days before Google. Any advancement of technology (mostly for commercial reasons) does bring about changes which are perceived as better for the world. But, the same advancement also takes away an existing way of life & along with it some of the human capabilities that have lasted for many years. In other words, advancement in technology (to satisfy few pockets) makes humans "weaker" and more dependent on technology to survive. Below are some such human capabilities that have been taken away by this "advancement" of Google & how this "Technology advancement" has spoilt the world as some of us had known it.

Loss of memory: Due to ease of access of information thru Google, people don't bother to remember most of what they read. Information has become "use & throw". Practically, Human memory is replaced with electronic memory. 

Loss of creativity/Intelligence: People don't use their creativity or intelligence & instead rely on others' creativity & intelligence which is "freely" available to use. Why bother to exercise brain to solve problem in your own creative way, when it is already solved by somebody else. People prefer to copy & reuse, thus reducing human intelligence to its most primitive form (ie. able to copy), which is also found in some animals.

Loss of social interaction: People don't talk to each other seeking information. Social interaction has been replaced with browsing. Attending classes to learn is becoming obsolete with web based courses available offline for any time use thru Google. Children prefer to browse or play games in virtual world, rather than to go out & play in physical world making "real" friends. Google is big time enabler in this transformation of people moving away from real time lively social interactions.

Loss of knowledge in people: In this jargon filled world, people feel confident knowing just the periphery of a subject & leaving the rest to search & retrieve from Google. Due to this ease of access of diverse information, people have lost focus & depth in reading books & are content to live with traces of knowledge in a subject, rather to go in depth.

Loss of respect for people with knowledge: Scholars/Professors/Teachers are no longer sought after & respected for their expertise in knowledge. The people with great expertise in a subject are looked upon as "dispensable", due to the boost in confidence given by Google backed access to information.

Breeding laziness in people: With Google around, people are becoming unabashedly lazy. When we were recruiting for a position in my team, i remember interviewing a "special" candidate, who was unashamed to not being able to answer most of the questions. When i asked how did he manage his current job, without knowing such basic stuff. His quick answer was that he searches in google for all that he doesn't know. I stopped short of saying that i would rather hire Google than him. But, people simply don't bother to learn or be competitive and are unashamed to use google for even day-to-day job for even basic stuff.

Loss of privacy: Everybody can be searched & found in Google. Sometimes it is scary, that you are reachable & accessible even to strangers whom you may not want to meet. There was an occasion once, when a person whom i spoke in the phone for about few minutes was able to reach my house without me giving my address. When i asked him how did he do so, he revealed that he searched me in Google & was able to find my address with just my full name. This was unthinkable in pre-Google era even with phone directory around.

Feeling Lost due to Information Flooding: A typical search in google fetches millions of results. It is obvious that nobody can manually go thru all results to find what they are looking for. Even browsing thru first few pages of results, gives one a feeling of lost in information flood, unless the user is very clear in what he/she is seeking.

Loss of freedom due to lack of control: Today, anybody using Google to get information is bound to look at what information Google shows in the first few pages of its results. This control over access to information is also a source of revenue for Google. Information not accessible thru Google simply doesn't exist for information seekers. Due to the ease of access thru Google, people are in general "ok" to relinquish the freedom to access any source of information they seek.

Browsing becomes most popular hobby: In pre-google era, people (esp kids) had many outdoor games as their hobbies, either watching or playing. This was good for the people as the involved physical activities improved their physical agility. Now, Googling & browsing has taken over most of the hobbies, with children glued to a screen most of the time. Needless to say, this "popular" hobby has a toll on the body rather than helping it.

Google has also changed the way people look at information. Information has been made frivolous, as the access to information has become easy. By making access to information very easy, Google has spoilt the world for choices, just like a kid is "spoilt" by giving more toys than what he/she needs.