What has Google done to us?

I read an article not too long ago how the internet has corrupted our way of getting to know people. With so much information available in so many virtual spaces, we’re able to find an extraordinary amount of “stuff” on people we don’t even know. How that affects are perception of people can sometimes be really negative, or really positive. Take Google for instance. I love it, don’t get me wrong, and I’ve become a pro at Googling things… jobs, vacations, men, myself. You can type in anything you want in that little search field, and the results you get back are unimaginable – current employment, personal profiles, road race results – everything short of a social security number. Companies now google job candidates, and individuals now Google potential dates (I KNOW I’m not alone in this people – you know who you are).

But do you know what I’ve realized? I don’t like it. I don’t like knowing what I’m getting before I see it for myself. It’s like when you’re a kid – you want so badly to know what you’re getting for Christmas, or your birthday – you scour the house, under the bed, high on closet shelves, kitchen cabinets – anywhere you can think those hidden gems might be stashed. When you finally find what you’re looking for, BOOM!, there goes the surprise, suddenly there’s no fun in the wait to find out what gifts are in store. Then, when you actually do open the gifts, you’re forced to fake surprise, just so your parents didn’t know you had been up to no good. It’s a lousy sequence of feelings: the challenge of the search (which is the only fun part), momentary excitement when you discover the gift, followed by the let down that there’s no one to share the moment with, combined with the guilt of knowing something you’re not supposed to, and then, and maybe the worst part, having to fake the actual emotions when you finally get the present.

It’s the same with dating. And I’ll fully admit I’ve fallen victim to it. Who as hasn’t done a little “googling” when you meet someone you’re interested in? It’s soooo easy just to type that name in and see what comes up. But at the same time, nothing good is supposed to be easy – so when you find a little nugget of information about someone you don’t really know, it’s easy to misinterpret things, react a certain way, form an opinion, and get yourself all worked up – without even knowing if what you’ve read is real!

We all know we can’t believe everything we read online – if we did, we’d all be at the doctors everyday with a different aliment. So why should we believe what we read, or don’t read, about people we don’t even know?

I’m a curious person. And all of my friends would also vouch that I’m also not a very patient person when it comes to getting what I want. When I find something I like, I tend to want it now (not in a spoiled way, but in a way that I’ll work really hard to get it sooner rather then later). So I admit it. It’s hard for me to sit back and wait for information to come to me, when I feel like I can go out and get it. But then you can’t find anything – or you find too much, and suddenly that feeling of instant gratification leaves a distaste in your mouth. You wish you could put that information back and pretend you never saw it. But it’s too late because you already know, and the surprise is ruined.

Technology is a curious thing. A blessing and a curse. When our world requires a certain urgency for immediate knowledge, the internet can be an amazing resource. Yet, in a world where we need to be patient, relaxed, and let things play out on a natural course, Google can suddenly become our worst enemy. I’m still deciding which one it is for me. The last 24 hours it’s been leaning towards the latter of the two, although I’m not ready to say why. But I’m going to leave it alone awhile, work on my patience, let Google search for things that are actually worth searching for, and leave the surprise to be left a surprise.