I work retail, and customer and fellow employee alike have no ability to google fucking anything, and this isn’t bound by any age bracket or demographic. Young and old alike, half my job is googling shit for them, I’ll do it in front of them in an attempt to be like “see you can do this yourself next time” and it never works. People will call my shop and ask me to google the phone number and directions TO OTHER STORES!

I forced a younger coworker to google a question he asked me yesterday and I swear I heard the fucking 2001 Space Odyssey theme played as he realized you can find information to answers your questions yourself!

  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    26·
    9 days ago

    AI Overview

    Based on recent trends, people are not necessarily losing theability to use Google Search, but their behaviors are fundamentally changing due to AI and social media. While traditional search is still widely used, people are increasingly bypassing Google in favor of other platforms that offer quicker, more direct answers or more visual content.

    Why search behaviors are changing

    Generative AI provides direct answers

    • AI chatbots and assistants, including Google’s own AI Overviews and products like ChatGPT and Perplexity, can provide concise, conversational answers directly in the search results.
    • This has contributed to a rise in “zero-click searches,” where a user’s query is answered on the search page itself without needing to click on a website link. A recent Pew Research Center study showed that when AI summaries were present, users were significantly less likely to click on traditional links.

    The web is saturated with low-quality content

    • Many users feel that Google’s results are deteriorating and are now filled with spam, SEO-optimized content, and affiliate links designed to generate revenue rather than provide quality information.
    • This erosion of trust causes users to seek information elsewhere. For instance, a common practice is to add “Reddit” to a search query to find more authentic, user-generated discussions.

    The shift toward visual and social search

    • For a growing number of people, particularly Gen Z, social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are the preferred search engines.
    • Users favor these platforms for visual and short-form video content, which they find more engaging and easier to digest than sifting through pages of text-based links. They also use social media for discovering and researching products.

    Google’s results are bogged down by ads

    • Google’s search results are more heavily monetized than ever, with many ads and sponsored results appearing at the top of the page.
    • This can make it difficult for users to find organic, high-quality results, leading to frustration and a search for alternatives.

    How Google is adapting

    Google’s declining search engine market share is not lost on the company, which is actively adapting by integrating AI more deeply into its products.

    • AI Overviews: These AI-generated summaries offer quick, direct information, though users can switch to a “Web” filter to remove them.
    • AI Mode: This experimental feature allows for deeper, more conversational searches and can perform complex tasks like analyzing data and making plans.
    • Circle to Search: This feature, popular with Gen Z, lets users perform a search within an app by circling an image or text, without having to open the Google app.

    formatting this was a pain, definitely not worth the effort.