Google is not just a search engine now. It has snuck its way into our multiple uses of the internet (mail, calendar, videos, blogging, and many more.) It does have a lot of power in our lives - I think I'd have a meltdown if Google stopped working for a week. As an office assistant, my entire job heavily relies on it and as a freelancer I wouldn't be able to function without my Google calendar keeping track of work hours and keeping in touch with clients. But does that mean it is a negative thing? No, not necessarily.
I'd like to think that this is one of those innovations that past generations fuss about but that ultimately, has a positive effect on people. Like when the typewriter came out and people thought that this type of technology would ruin writing and our "literacy" or "intelligence" or whatever their relatively silly argument was. And how the printing press by Gutenburg was challenged by multiple critics. And although they were right about some things - like the protestant reformation - but it also revolutionized our world. Ordinary people wouldn't have had access to the knowledge they did and we wouldn't have grown in the way we have without it.
I wouldn't feel as comfortable to wander the streets of Rome aimlessly and get lost during study abroad if I didn't have google maps on my phone to find my way home. People wouldn't be able to have meetings across the country through Google Hangout. And group papers may not be as easy if we didn't have Google Docs to share files and edit group projects. Google does have a lot of power in our lives, but it isn't GOOGLE we are reliable on, its the services they provide. If Google didn't exist, we'd probably be "addicted" to another site providing these services.
I think there are some concerns with privacy, and I've heard skeptics say that Google searches through your email. However, Google and other people on the internet cannot search out what you don't provide. So if you don't want people knowing where you live, don't provide that information. Also, I think there is a rightful concern for the Google Streetviews. It is one of the apps that I'm not sure is necessary. It would make sense to establish a street view for businesses and what surrounds them, so that people who are visual can place where the business is in a particular location, but there isn't a point to having residential views.
I would agree Kiley! I basically said the same thing about this topic. I think Google, although we rely so heavily on it, is a positive thing in most of our lives. It makes our daily lives so much easier in so many ways!
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