4.4K People per Month Google, “How do I Google something,” and that’s OK

I came across the above graphic today thanks to this Google Plus post and my knee jerk reaction wasn’t, “Wow those people are dumb.” I think that’s a pretty big step for me because I’m trying to be more open minded and less judgmental. I teach college students, talk at conferences, and field a whole host of different questions every day. If I was constantly calling people dumb for not knowing what I know, I wouldn’t be very popular, and I’d be a horrible educator. Unfortunately, I think that’s the default mentality when it comes to something like this stat.

Googling something probably comes naturally to most people who read this blog. It might even be your default move when you don’t know something. But for a lot of people, the company ‘Google’ and the verb ‘Google’ can be different- especially for people who didn’t grow up in the Internet Age. Most of those people think the “blue E” means Internet or email and they might type full URLs into a Google search bar because that was most intuitive to them they first time they did it and no one was there to correct them.

Instead, people post the above graphic with words like, “Wow,” or “Seriously,” or “I don’t want to live on this planet.” Why isn’t the default reaction, “Let me help you?” I don’t know if the note there is tongue-in-cheek or not, but it’s advice that people should heed. I hate to break it to you, but if everyone knew what you knew, you wouldn’t have a job.

I’m not trying to be preachy; I’m guilty of this too. It’s a mindset I’ve been actively trying to get rid of because I don’t want the people I’m teaching to feel stupid or uncomfortable or like they can’t ask me something because I’m going to put them down. So the next time you see someone Google, “How do I Google Something,” maybe instead of making fun of them you should explain to them what Google is and how it works. Then then that monthly average can go down and you can continue living on this planet.