Southern Crossings

Monday 10 October 2016

Ask Google

It's a feature I've avoided, being generally creeped out by the concept of talking to my handheld device. More precicsely, I am creeped out by that moment when my phone informs me it is listening to me.

But when I showed Sebastian how to ask Google a question on my new tablet, he was enchanted. He keeps coming up with new questions he needs to ask it, when we're drivng in the car, when we're walking down the street. And he holds onto those questions until we have an internet connection, and I can agian grant him access to this magical oracle.

"Okay Google" meets the insatiable curiosity of a four year old. It's a synergistic combination. Questions my particular four year old has asked Google so far:

Is there really such a thing as a volcano that sprays cold lava?
What are the Star Wars movies like?
What does it look like inside your body?
How do you make a tv show?
Is there really such a thing as a robot arm?

Question he came up with in the car on the way to Preschool this morning, and will no doubt be awaiting his chance to ask when he gets home:

"How do you make chocolate?"

It didn't matter at all that I was also able to offer him an answer to this question. After I gave him my best answer, he wanted just as keenly to ask Google. Which is the point where I started to wonder if I was being obseleted by this new thing - a machine that can answer a four year old's questions, tirelessly, and without irritation.

I still am sometimes amazed when I realise that this isn't just the world my kid lives in, this is the only world he's ever lived in. This is not magic to him, or the amazing stuff of sci-fi novels made real. It's just everyday life. This tablet is just an ordinary household object.