Google And Its Grip

With nearly 30 years in the comedy business, The Simpsons has had the chance to poke fun at nearly everything under the sun. That being said, despite their joking nature, they've managed to make some uncanny predictions that have come true (to an extent). There was the time they suggested that horse meat was being added as a secret ingredient (5x19) or the time famous Las Vegas performers were mauled by their own tiger (5x10). They also predicted a Trump presidency but hopefully that'll be one that stays in the realm of fiction (11x17)...

#Yikes

Another prediction from the minds of the writers for The Simpsons was Google's world domination. While not necessarily to the comically extreme extent shown in the 2011 episode "Holidays of Future Passed," with most of the population enslaved by the technology company, Google has definitely become a prominent feature in the lives of many.

I'd definitely have the same reaction...

Ultimately, it can be argued that Google is too prominent in our lives. With its reputation for being a reliable search engine, nearly anything with the Google branding attached to it does well. While not everything can be a success (I'm looking at you, Google Hangouts...), programs such as Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Docs have become wildly popular, strengthening our dependence and reliance on the company. I'm definitely guilty of this, as I surf the web using Chrome, utilize Blogger to post this update, and prior to that, use Google to find the images and articles I have linked above, and I honestly don't know what I would do if one day I woke up to find Google had been wiped from the face of the planet.

There was a world before Google, before even the internet, but I'm not sure how well I'd fare. While I wouldn't spontaneously combust, I would definitely have to rethink how I do things in life. Google's interface is so easy and readily available to users. It provides a network of services that work in tandem, making it much easier to go about your daily life. While this is incredibly convenient for me as a user, it has the potential to also be catastrophic were that information to fall into the wrong hands. On the milder end of the spectrum, your data can be sold to advertisers who then use that to send you spam messages about a product you'll never use. On a much worse end of that same spectrum, personal and sensitive information could be leaked, compromising your identity, bank account, or even your life.

While I'm not advocating everyone go off the grid and adopt the tin foil hat lifestyle, I think it would be good to at least have everyone on the same page about the relationship Google has with their information and the potential risks it poses to our privacy and independence. We may joke about the hold Google has on our lives but it has definitely embedded itself into our lives, much like an un-skip-able ad at the beginning of a YouTube video. Hopefully, if more people realize this, some boundaries can be set and higher standards for privacy can be achieved.

Until then, stock up on the foil... it won't keep Google from being able to access your personal information but it might keep you away from its servers so that you don't provide it with any more!

Warning: Tin foil hats are not understood by all.