The Google Generation (goo goo google!)

baby-at-computerPlease take note, I am coining a new phrase–Google Generation. This is different from the term “Generation Google” which attempts to categorize a generation of children supposedly more adept at Google skills than their elders (I question this assertion. With 35 years of computer and research experience, I am a goddamn Google ninja and I defy any child to school me on my Google Fu). No, I’m describing the subset of children whose parents use Google to help raise them.

I think we’re part of that generation. We are not identified by our personal age, but by the era in which we’re raising our children, and the technology with which we do so.

I was born in 1967. I remember seeing the Dr. Spock baby book on the family bookshelf. Nowadays, Dr. Spock has been largely dismissed and replaced with dozens of other parenting philosophies and trends. Every decade has a new style of parenting. M has advanced degrees in social work and probably knows more about parenting than a lot of other parents–although babyhood can throw a lot of curve balls not covered in textbooks and work experience.

When M was pregnant we picked up a couple of books on pregnancy and infant care. I can’t say we were entirely well served by them. A rare instance in which books let us down. It seemed, instead, that whenever we had a question about M’s pregnancy or Jack’s infancy, we turned to Google.

  • “Google, what is the normal temperature for a baby?
  • “Google, how much formula should one give a two-week infant at one time?
  • “Google, what is the recommended method for storing breast milk?”
  • “Google, what are the pooping habits of a three-week old?”
  • “Google, what is thrush?” (It did not turn out to be thrush.)
  • “Google, why is the dog by licking the baby? Is that bad?”

And the list goes on. While Google itself did not necessarily provide the answers, it pointed to many reliable resources with answers to our various questions. We learned early not to go to Yahoo Answers as they are just the worst. For some reason, British parenting forums were the best. Those Brits rarely engaged in fear-mongering and tended to be pretty laid back and calm in giving useful advice.

As always, one should always be careful about anything found online, but as I mentioned earlier, I have strong Google Fu. I can usually tell when a site’s commercial sponsor is biasing the advice or parenting answers. I’m fairly good at weeding out the whackos from the actual useful advice posters. I know how to use multiple sources to confirm information.

So Google is helping us raise our child–but we’re not fools, and not irresponsible. Google is not our only resource by any means. Like most infants, Jack has his series of early childhood medical exams and we arrive to these exams with lists of questions and recommendations.

So far, so good.

Things Google does not advise:

  • Cleaning baby by hosing it down in backyard
  • Letting the baby do freeweights without a spotter
  • baby-drivingChallenging the baby’s political views
  • Offering the baby smokes
  • Accepting smokes offered by the baby
  • Letting the baby drive, no matter how loud he cries
  • Letting the baby drive no matter how open-minded the golf course is
  • Misunderstanding (willfully or not) the term “baby sling”

We’re going to make mistakes. Everyone does. But we’re minimizing the chances of mistakes how we can. We don’t rely solely upon Google. There are the doctors and nurses, friends who have been through what we’re going through, and the dog. (The dog always suggests sniffing the baby’s butt and going out to the yard to eat grass. We’ll tuck that bit of advice somewhere in back… just in case.)

So, yes… I’m coining the phrase Google Generation. I also invented the term chillax back in the early 80s, but never announced it publicly, so I missed out on all those sweet trademark deals. That’s not going to happen again.

Google Generation.

Cheers!

–John

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About jdteehan

John is a proud geek and nerd, a publisher, a freelancer, and a new dad. He's into books, gaming, and music. He's a good cook, a passing musician and artist, and terrible fisherman. The biggest thing in his life right now is being a new dad and he has started a blog all about that. Visit Dearjackrabbit.com for more on that. Also visit Merryblacksmith.com for word on publishing projects.
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