Do you google everything, or trust what people tell you?

[ShawnFuzz]

I am a young Gen X, and I feel kind of lucky to have experienced the transition from old and new technology. I know what its like to search the library cards to find books that I need for a school paper (hand written ). I also learned a lot of knowledge from other people passed on from one generation to the next.

I also really love the fact that I can Google anything and get a mostly reliable answer, depending on the topic... instantly.

I am quick to search the internet for little trivia because I cant stop trying to learn new things. I may be wrong, but I think millennials are the same way? At least thats how I feel from personal experience.

I have noticed that the Gen Z coworkers of mine have taken on the old school art of discussing things they have learned, but not immediately confirming the truth of it with the internet. I really love that. I feel like they (the people I know personally) enjoy the the art of conversation, rather than just being right as fast as possible.

I guess I am curious what your go to resource is? It's been nice discussing innocent topics at work that dont immediately bring out the phones to fact check with literally everything.

What do you think?

Post automatically merged: Feb 11, 2026

P.S. this thread idea spawned after I googled if anyone else puts crunchy cheeto's on their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

So dont think too hard

 

[LambdaDelta]

I hardly use google for information gathering

moreso after their whole ai currated results ****

as for trusting people, there's far too many variables at play there to be a consistent or even hard yes/no, from person to person and the content and context of the things in question within

 

[-Blue-]

Anymore Google (and most other search engines) are garbage with how much AI has taken over the internet. I can't even find any information or sources made by humans unless I dig deep. And how much they try to push the AI agenda on everything is so annoying. Devices already coming with stuff preinstalled instead of asking if you want it and there's no way to disable or completely remove the AI features. Nothing I ever really looked up online was that deep, but even that isn't safe from AI. It's really ruined the internet. And honestly offline to for certain things, but I really don't feel like getting into it.

The internet used to be a great place to find information as long as you didn't just take everything you read. And I used to do a quick search on Reddit to find something since after some time it was the quickest way to find something that was almost always the surefire answer. Now Reddit is full of bots pushing their agendas.

I know that might not want what you wanted me to talk about, but really nowadays you can't even go that far without AI being obnoxiously in your face. It really depends on what it is in question that I am needing information on. I would say I used to do both.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I mix of the two. I google things that someone tells me that I’m not sure if it’s true or not. Either that or I google info someone tells me if it’s a news story.

 

[Chris]

Millennial and throw questions at Google multiple times a day. I make a point of looking for credible sources as the AI response at the top is unreliable.

 

[Suguri]

To answer the OP's question, I usually look up information online after hearing about it from someone else. I need to know if it's true or false or whatever. But these days, it's almost impossible to talk about the Google search engine itself without bringing up the ridiculous AI results you see first thing at the top.

However there is a trick I learned not too long ago specifically with Google, where when you search up something, there is an option called "Web" where you can see the results without the AI slop. But having to look up something and then click on "Web" every time is tedious, so by tacking the following onto the end of the search address: &udm=14, you'll automatically get taken to the search results under "Web." There are extensions and sites out there that can additionally help with that, and I have one set as my default search engine. It's worth looking into.

I never liked Google's handling of their AI, but I wouldn't be surprised if they removed the "Web" feature in the future, since they'll be more than willing to put their crap everywhere.

 

[BakaRina]

I prefer to look up information myself. People will make things up to get likes and whatnot on other websites and it's annoying. I only trust those that have proven credible to me.

 

[KnoxBaren]

I am a young Gen X, and I feel kind of lucky to have experienced the transition from old and new technology. I know what its like to search the library cards to find books that I need for a school paper (hand written ). I also learned a lot of knowledge from other people passed on from one generation to the next.

I also really love the fact that I can Google anything and get a mostly reliable answer, depending on the topic... instantly.

I am quick to search the internet for little trivia because I cant stop trying to learn new things. I may be wrong, but I think millennials are the same way? At least thats how I feel from personal experience.

I have noticed that the Gen Z coworkers of mine have taken on the old school art of discussing things they have learned, but not immediately confirming the truth of it with the internet. I really love that. I feel like they (the people I know personally) enjoy the the art of conversation, rather than just being right as fast as possible.

I guess I am curious what your go to resource is? It's been nice discussing innocent topics at work that dont immediately bring out the phones to fact check with literally everything.

What do you think?

Post automatically merged: Feb 11, 2026

P.S. this thread idea spawned after I googled if anyone else puts crunchy cheeto's on their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

So dont think too hard

I use google most of the time but I trust people the most.

 

[-Blue-]

I think it also depends on the context. If I know someone that is a master plumber in person I will trust whatever advice they give me more than I would if I were to Google it. That's not to say I would 100% do what they say without question. And in the same scenario if someone is a master plumber online I will most likely trust what they have to say about advice compared to someone I know that doesn't know anything about plumbing. In both instances I wouldn't trust them blindly.

 

[Seastar]

It varies for me. I definitely don't use Google's AI answers, though.

 

[Aniko]

Depending on the people and the topic. I usually don't trust anything or anyone, not even google that is such a letdown since a few years. If I need an answer I will look at different sources, online and books, ask to experienced people or/and make my own experience.

Example: if it's about cooking or gardening, it rarely goes like it was written online or in the book in my case
I have better answers if I ask my brother.

AI is a calamity, not even able to convert feet in cm.

 

[Corrie]

I usually will believe people until something sounds off to me and then I'll google it later on my own time.

Though, when my coworker told me Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau were dating, I legit didn't believe him and googled it right there. That was insane.

 

[Blast]

Unless I got a disagreement about a fact I tend to hear people out. When I wanna get more info on a topic I usually stick to Wikipedia because it's easy to navigate and find context through the copious hyperlinks that lead to different articles. Not the most reliable but I think it gives a good overview at least. It's still possible to do a more deeper dive. Just don't use Google >_>

 

[lasagne_of_death]

Though, when my coworker told me Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau were dating, I legit didn't believe him and googled it right there. That was insane.

WHAT.

Just looked it up, sounds so unbelievable Ahem, moving on...

I would say I trust people without looking up stuff unless it sounds really suspicious or I'm interested in learning more about what they brought up. Most of the time I would say I usually just ask another couple of people i would trust to confirm

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Google isn't the same anymore.. If i really want to learn about a topic, I add on "reddit" at the end of whatever I'm googling. I'll also turn to Youtube. And I almost always disregard what Google AI says

 

[Snek]

It depends on what you want searched. For specific information I try to first use a search engine like google and then look at the results. When I do google things I focus on the results instead of the ai becausd the ai is seriously annoying and sometimes its embarrassingly wrong. Honestly I hope the ai bubble bursts soon but thats offtopic but it needed to be said. Anyway I'd rather search for specifics through more scholarly sources. Asking those around me usually doesn't help because they tell me to "google it" or search on the web. Its infuriating. I do wish that I could get hardcover encyclopedias every year but thats a little of reach for me.

 

[-Blue-]

Google isn't the same anymore.. If i really want to learn about a topic, I add on "reddit" at the end of whatever I'm googling. I'll also turn to Youtube. And I almost always disregard what Google AI says

Sadly even Reddit is becoming a dumpster fire. I loved how we could just look up reddit to find the answer right away, but now it's getting clogged with so many AI bots now. It's really disheartening.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

Sadly even Reddit is becoming a dumpster fire. I loved how we could just look up reddit to find the answer right away, but now it's getting clogged with so many AI bots now. It's really disheartening.

I'm not so great at noticing bots But most of the things I look up (like learning about sewing or whatever) tend to have answers from pre-AI anyway!

 

[Rykertimee]

I use noai.duckduckgo.com and it surprisingly filters out alot of the AI content. Of course some of it is gonna slip through onto it, but it's alot better than your regular search engine.

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2026

OK I see what you mean now..

Bing Search Engine:
"she is not included in the list of villagers in New Horizons."
*proceeds to show a whole picture of her in New Horizons*

 

[Randy Jade]

I use noai.duckduckgo.com and it surprisingly filters out alot of the AI content. Of course some of it is gonna slip through onto it, but it's alot better than your regular search engine.

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2026

OK I see what you mean now..
View attachment 634413
Bing Search Engine:
"she is not included in the list of villagers in New Horizons."
*proceeds to show a whole picture of her in New Horizons*

Lol I had cheri once... Guess she never existed lol