Google: Satisfying Everyone’s Online Needs
Yi-Feng Ho
Staff Writer
What do you do when you do not know something? Most people today will simply say, “Google it.” Over the course of 21 years, Google has slowly become a large part of our lives. It started by providing people with almost limitless sources of information, thus the name Google. A googol is a number that is followed by 100 zeroes. Google has came a long way since its creation and people have been relying on Google more as time goes on.
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The Google ‘Effect’ion
Nguyen Kim Tran
Staff Writer
For students and everyday people alike, Google is where answers can easily be found. Yet at the same time, Google may also be deteriorating minds.
In 2011, researchers from Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted experiments in their Science journal “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips,” found that test subjects would have test subjects would prioritize remembering where the information was found rather than the content itself. To put it simply, people may know bits and pieces of information but they are not inclined to retain the memory of the information. Instead of using their memory, they refer to websites or where they found the information previously. This is especially tempting for teens or anyone who carries a mobile phone on a regular basis.
Google has become a second brain for us. Information can be easily pulled up at our fingertips; however, it makes it increasingly difficult to actually learn the content. In order to combat these effects, it is recommended to not depend on the Internet too much for knowledge. The mind is like a muscle; we must exercise it in order for it to function better. If something really needs to be looked up, the old fashioned method of searching in an encyclopedia or library is also a excellent idea.
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The Dangers of Google
Ellen Lei
Staff Writer
Google may be seen as a search engine that does not impact our daily lives in a negative way. However, the frequent usage of Google often includes unsuitable scenerios, such as the times when people refer to Google for health diagnosis. According to Business Insider, there are more than 2.3 million Google searches per minute. This shows that there are an astounding amount of people that rely heavily on Google on a daily basis. Although it can help one find the answer to almost every problem, Google should not be used for certain things, such as diagnosing health. When people self-diagnose by using information from Google, it may actually cause dangers to their health.
According to Reader’s Digest, results that show up while self diagnosing are often extreme or have the least probable explanation for shown symptoms. For example, stomach pain can be self-diagnosed into a possible case of Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the adrenal glands, when it could have simply been a case of food poisoning. In this way, self-diagnosing may be dangerous because it can lead a person into believing they have a rare or uncommon disease, causing them to take unsuitable medication.
Self-diagnosing may also lead a person into becoming a cyberchondriac, a person obsessed with the idea of being stricken by diseases they find online. According to U.S. News, and World Report, being a cyberchondriac can be costly because they may buy into false treatments online or demand for expensive medical tests such as magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scans they do not need. Reliance on Google is common in our society today. It may actually be seen as the norm for both students and adults. We must take into consideration that self diagnosing may pose dangers to our mental health.
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How Google has Changed Our Lives
Christian Nguyen
Staff Writer
Every day millions of people across the world use Google to find information. Whether it be for business, school or just because they are bored, Google allows us to have access to billions of pages of information in mere seconds. However, it is not just the Google search engine that changed society. Google as a company has given jobs to thousands of people.
As we use the internet today, it is hard to imagine it without Google. When founded in 1998, AOL, Hotmail and Netscape were the primary sources for email. Now with the use of Gmail, you do not hear about those three as much. Now we do not need to search and go onto different websites to do different things because it is all under one convenient hub. It is 2016 and Google is our main source for email, internet searching and more.
Google is a multi-billion dollar company, and has created multiple products, many of which are available for free on the Internet. Google Docs and Google Slides let anyone create documents and presentations very easily. Gmail has changed the way we use email, especially for students and businesses. Google Hangouts is a great way to communicate with people through messaging, calling and video chat. More than just apps, Google makes electronic devices such as the Pixel C tablet and the Chromebook. Google even has a current project to make self-driving cars. These products has made make our lives so much easier.