Become a Google-a-holic!!!

I honestly think that we could solve a good portion of the problems in this world if people would learn to use the Internet as a tool to enhance better learning and survival skills. I'm a Google-a-holic. I Google everything because I want to know if others worldwide might have an answer to my problem. I'm a trusting guy...until something breaks. Just yesterday, I get an ABS/Brake light that came on in my Audi. I get home, call a dealership, and they immediately tell me that I need an ABS control module replaced at the tune of 7 bills! How could they know that without even seeing it? Years ago, and maybe after a second opinion, I would have had no choice but to get the work done and take it like a man. I get home, hit Google, type in ABS light AND Audi A6 and get all kinds of user forums that proceed to tell me that an 11 dollar brake switch under the brake pedal might be stuck. What the heck, I'll give it a shot! I go out to my car, fiddle under the driver's console like a mechanic probably would and PRESTO! The $700 bill turned into 5 minutes of my time on Google...FREE advice that paid off. I've done this with my water softener, sprinkler/irrigation system, electronics firmware updates, PC repairs, and dozens of little handyman fix-its around the house. Years ago we were at the mercy of service technicians...not that they're all bad people...nowadays we just have more tools at our fingertips to keep them a bit more honest. Go back some years ago before the Internet was in everyone's home. School reports had to be done at the library and we'd spend countless hours digging through the friggin card catalogue and microfilm!!! No wonder I eeked by in school!!! What a PITA! I wonder how many people don't even bother to research anything on the web...or even worse...don't KNOW HOW to research the web. I see a lot of common sense value in search engine education and hope that it gets taught at some level during our kid's education...boy that sounded like an old person talking.

Truth be known, I would bet that the top 5 reasons for using the Internet for the majority are YouTube, porn, music, MySpace, eBay and Craigslist....ok that's 6. I'll admit it, eBay and Craigslist are sites that I troll, but I sure have become a smarter consumer regarding values and what the "right price" is. Most of us probably partake in such websites and activities (I don't wanna know), but what's sick is that there are hundreds of thousands that sit in front of their screen 24/7 and may eventually become video addicts, criminals, bankruptcy candidates, victims of Internet scams and crimes, and people that get wrapped up counting the number of virtual friends that they have on MySpace only to find out that they don't have any real contact or friendships outside of their PC. On the flip side though, there are many brilliant millionaires out there that figured out e-commerce and web based advertising...ironically, those are probably the porn site owners that continue to feed and corrupt the minds of society. Yet perfectly legal and legit in our country!

Boy that was a bowl of sunshine wasn't it?! LOL!