How has Google helped you?

What used to be termed as "Modern Age" has now been  replaced by the term "Google Age".Thanks to google for its presence in my generation. This generation would have been in the dark, like so many generations before us before the advent of this new messiah, which technology has afforded billions of people around the world.

I was driving home from work last Thursday, and I heard a presenter on radio asking this short but weighty question "How has google helped you"? For a minute I pondered on that question and a whole lot of things flooded into my mind in that split second. I mean the question should be what has google not done for you? Perhaps, this will help the people at google to think out of the box, and come up with more innovative ways to continue helping people like you and I in our daily lifes.

I think I started using the internet in the year 2000 or so, not very sure, but i'm sure it couldn't have been earlier than that. Then, the internet was basically for sending and receiving emails from Yahoo, and a handfull of family and friends that had an email address back then, gradually I got to know about Google in my second year in Uni or thereabout, when we had to do some assignment and a little research here and there was needed. Note, not so much research was done on the internet back then, the internet for many of us was a hub for social networking. If it wasn't Hi5, then it had to be Yahoo or Hotmail, and you get to read some news on their home page, this was way before Facebook became the rave of the moment that has become more like a page where every living individual gets registered, more like a census board if you know what I mean.

Google has been a father, brother, husband, supporter, doctor, gynaecologist, paedeatrician, team-mate, colleague,comforter,spiritual counsellor, research partner, and above all information provider to me in my time of distress, calm, worry, joy, happiness and all kinds of moments in my life. Believe me , there is so much more things that Google is to me than what I have mentioned. The truth is, I'm unable to summarize what Google is, in just one sentence, its just unbelievable!

Let me tell you how Google has helped me from the very first event I can vividly remember, 

Pregnancy,Childbirth & Parenting.

Back in the days when my mum had me, she had to rely solely on what the doctor told her, or old wives tales, and most of them were myths, In her time, you either stick to that or what your parent or community tells you about pregnancy.  I am so fortunate to have had my babies in this "google age'', where all pregnancy information were provided to me by just searching for some key words, relating to whatever symptoms I might have had at one time or the other. Did these informations help? Definitely! Every single help I needed during pregnancy was from my personal doctor "google", giving me unfated access to information 24/7. I found out about different pregnancy support groups such as Babycenter,Whattoexpect,thebump, and so many others I can't remember at the top of my head. This was a period in my life I needed all the information available to help me stay sane, and ol boy! I took in every information with joy and relief knowing that there were so many other people in the world sharing the same experience as mine.

These groups also helped me through my childbirth experience, after reading vastly about delivery, and watching numerous birthing videos , I knew I couldn't have been more prepared for the journey of becoming a mum.

Having a baby was a phase on its own, parenting was another challenge, I gladly run to google for guidance whenever there is something I'm not really sure I should be doing as a parent either caring for a newborn, an infant, or raising a toddler or now that they have become grown children. I know advice from our parents can guide us a little, but trust me, raising children in this new age, needs more than what your parents did in your time,it really goes beyond that.

Marriage

There are marriage counsellors every where you go to in the world. be it the church, the mosque, at work, just name it everywhere. But the thing is they all have closing time at these places. I have had nights/days that I didnt want to talk to anyone about an issue in my marriage, and the only one I turn to is counsellor "google", who is awake 24/7 to give a response to my enquiry. Im not saying you get complete solution or total healing from whatever advice google is offering, but atleast at that moment you would have access to a variety of marital issues that addresses whaever issue you might be having and you can be rest assured that you are not alone in the struggle.

Work Research

When I hear my colleague saying, "Abi the magician", I just laugh it off, because my secret is an open one,first its God, and second is research, which I do without blinking an eye lid. I can be on my computer for days researching on work related articles, regulations, processes etc, just name it, anything that helps me get a solution to a problem at work, is 30% through google researchand 70% experience. I mean, practically every topic under the sun is treated on google. How did I become a blogger? Google! You will be shocked to know that I registered my blog in 2010,just because google gave me the information on how to do that, and not because others had just started doing in back then. Anyways story for another day. :)

Cooking

With google, I became the family chef. Yes you heard me right, my darling  Dooneyskitchen and Sisiyemmie brought out the cook in me, especially dooneyskitchen, By the way, if you are a naija wife,and you dont know dooneyskitchen, you are on a long thing my sister, I'm just wondering where have you been all along? Thanks to google for making me discover these Nigerian food bloggers. Continental dishes are not left out too, just google the keyword,"how to cook blablabla" for example and voala!its done.

Finding Sellers

I have used google a thousand times to find a particular seller of a particular product in Nigeria or diaspora, just at a click of a button, and you will be amazed.

I can go on and on about how google has helped me, but let me stop here, to give you the opportunity of sharing your own personal experience of how  google has helped you. 

Google has definitely made the world a closer place, not like there are no bad things on google, trust me, that is a whole topic for another post,which I am also very aware of, but lets leave that for now, and dwell on their positives and not the negatives, but in all they have been a good source of information depending how you choose to rate them.

I hope you found this post interesting, I will be reading and learning from your comments too.

Pic Credit:Google