Google seems to be the Mr Know it All of our times, with impressive amounts of information being held and released by the giant search engine. It seems that teens resort to Google whenever in doubt regarding health issues or other pieces of advice that could enhance their social behavior.
It seems that 8 in 10 US teenagers turn to the internet if they want to find important details on matters that relate to health, with a third of these changing their health behaviors based on what they find online, new study shows.
Behavioral changes have been shown in better nutrition habits, more exercise and giving up soda drinks, as the research further unveils. Still, Google is not the master of puppets when it comes to teenagers, as they are more focused on asking parents, attending school health classes and turning to health professionals if they seek for valuable pieces of advice that could make them change their perspective over the world or over certain habits or behaviors.
This is actually a case where online information is actually beneficial. Whenever in doubt, Google can provide simple answers to delicate matters, without considerable efforts and measures that could put some of us in delicate circumstances. While the general perception is founded on the online information pulling families and relationships apart, the findings now come to contradict this, as teenagers are going to the internet to improve their life and learn how to live healthier and safer, consequently learning how to live with each other.
The study goes further with revealing that one quarter of teens go online to look for information about health conditions that could affect family or friends. Most teens go digital if they need to learn about puberty, drugs, sex and depression. This is tricky, as all the mentioned matters are a question of individuality and although teenagers are reluctant of sharing their concerns with friends and family, it would be better, as greater understanding could come from the part of someone who actually knows them. Google can work as an encyclopedia but the information is much too subjectively filtered, exposing teenagers to risks and wrong answers to serious life problems.
All teenagers face questions related to health, sex, partnerships and all sorts of related information that sheds a bit of light over larger than life questions. Google can indeed be a very good source of information, as there you can find insightful details about everything in the world. But in the end, nothing compares to a good piece of advice coming from your family or a friend that knows you better than a tech robot that works with keywords to filter search results. Nothing compares with human connection and that is the reason why Google should only play a support role and not become the main character that sheds wisdom to teenagers, anyhow very much exposed to wrong interpretation of some random findings.
Image Source: research.google.comcialis usa
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.