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We all have been using google products for most of our daily life activities. Be it to find a recipe for your favourite breakfast or to learn about the latest 5G technology that you love. But it’s a fact that Google is making you dumb and you don’t even realise it.
Google Assistant Effect – Hey Google
There was a time when you use to take an effort to get what you want. Now you just need an effect to say ‘Hey Google’ and most of your thing are done. From starting a song by Taylor Swift or Switching on the AC in your room. Everything can be achieved without burning a single calorie. We took this seriously and found that only 0.07 calories get burned for a 5-second instruction to Google Assistant.
How did we calculate this?
A young man will burn an average of 57 calories for an hour of talk. This means he will spend approx. 0.95 calories for each min. An instruction to Google Assistant will hardly take more than 5 seconds which means 0.07 calories is the max you might spend.
Let’s get back to Topic
There was a time when we use to meet, communicate and discuss with people to get information. But now we are so dependent on google that we even ask Google ‘How to talk to people?’. Isn’t that strange?
Before Google Maps didn’t exist, How would you know the routes if you are travelling for the first time? You would eventually ask people down the route and look for road markings and boards. Which is definitely tiring sometimes but you would remember the route for every next time you travel. This is because it’s a law of nature that if you put an effort into something you would eventually value the results that you get for the effort.
But in today’s time, even if you travel several times, you will end up taking a glimpse of Google Maps at least once. This is how our navigational skills are declining and there would be times when we will be totally dependent on Google Maps for any navigational skills.
Fun facts: Imagine if Google Maps is made paid to use in the coming future. I am just wondering what would happen to people that use google maps day and night.
Reducing Memorising Capability
Let’s get 10-15 years back when we had simple mobile phones. It was very normal for us to remember 5-10 mobile numbers including family and friends. But today we can’t remember a single number, in some cases not even ourself’s.
Here’s a live example. One of my friends took a new phone number 6 months back. And I call him almost every day. But still, I don’t remember his number except for the initial few numbers of his phone number.
This is because we have forgotten to train our brain to memorise numbers which wasn’t the case a decade back.
Personally, I google a lot because it searches faster and it’s helpful. But it has helped me
so much for so many years that I feel like I know a lot with google and but I don’t remember them.
Humans store data in their brains and Google store data in its cloud. Slowly and slowly we are transferring our entire brain to Google cloud.
Even today Google knows more about you than you would remember about yourself.
Reducing Thinking Skills
Today you can learn anything, any time, anywhere. Which no one could have imagined 30 years back. And this is really a great achievement. If someone would have done this 50 years back it would have been considered magic.
But there is also a downside to it. This quick information also makes our mind lazy and weakens our thinking skills, and makes us DUMB.
The more effort you take to learn, the longer it stays in the brain. Thinking is considered the best exercise for the brain. But How many of us think about the answer before Googling it? Isn’t that the DUMB thing?
Human is a social animal by nature, they need to talk and maintain a relationship, which is the basic need of a human being. The more we interact with others, the more we are humans.
But the virtual world of Social sites like Instagram, Tiktok, and Twitter has made us more of a virtual. We would prefer first to message on Instagram or Facebook before talking in person. Although it may feel comfortable at first glance, it is killing your human side, reducing self-esteem and making social less in the long run.
Conclusion
We saw how Google is impacting our lives in a negative way. But is it really Google’s problem? No, it is our problem, In fact, I am pretty sure Google would also not want humans to be so dependent on technology. Because it is also run by Humans. Thus we have said Google is making us DUMB unintentionally.
Google as a company believes to help users in every possible way, be it to provide information or help them to reach a location. If Google didn’t do it, someone else would have done it.
But it is the problem of we humans that how we are perusing these technologies and how much we are dependent on them. Technology is great, it has benefitted us in an unbelievable way. But it’s the time to draw a line and control our life with our own decision without completely relying on anything else.
This way we will be able to take advantage of the amazing benefits that come with technology without experiencing the side effects that we are facing now.
Hope you enjoyed the article. Also check out 5 alternatives of Google Maps
