In most cases, Google can be a great help. However, sometimes it can work against you. Listed below are the things not to search in Google.
Your symptoms
You’ll find many websites that specialize in providing medical advice. Yet, most of them are not managed by medical professionals. Thus, Googling the meaning of your symptoms will do you no good. In fact, doing so results in the opposite – it will make you feel worse and panicked.
Thus, don’t ask Doctor Google if you have any kind of health issues. Consult a real doctor instead.
Things you don’t want to see in ads later
If you Google a product, it is very likely that you’ll see an ad for that product every time you open up a page online. Hence, you may want to think twice before searching for any product, especially if it’s odd.
Anything criminal
This is one of the serious things not to search in Google. You may try to look up things like “how to make a bomb” or “how to make amphetamines” out of pure interest. However, such curiosity might bring a lot of trouble to you. Security and drug control services always track these kinds of searches, and your IP address may appear in such a database.
According to Brian McConnachie QC, a criminal defense barrister, “it is now a common occurrence for computers to be analyzed along with telephones and for all social media to be interrogated. It is almost commonplace for there to be a reference to at least one of these in any serious trial.”
Skin conditions
Like symptoms, you should never search skin conditions. You’ll only see a whole lot of information and images that show pretty disgusting things. Consult a dermatologist instead.
Dangerous animals
If you don’t want to acquire new phobias, don’t search lists for dangerous animals. Our planet has a lot of really terrifying animals. Moreover, some of them will probably turn out to be in your region. Furthermore, such a phobia may discourage you from traveling. You don’t want that to happen, right?
Whether a product is safe or not
The Internet contains countless opinions, with people claiming to be experts on everything. If you’ll search the safety of a certain product and read a ‘yes’ from some forums and a ‘no’ from others, you might feel tempted to swing towards the positive side. Yet, it is best to seek out medical/professional advice from experts.
Anything that’s going to embarrass you
We all have embarrassing inquiries. Yet, it is best not to search them if you’re concerned that such inquires may be used against you (e.g. political race). There’s no such thing as a ‘delete’ button on the Internet. Even your ‘private’ web history isn’t really private at all.
As mentioned, anything you search will most likely pop up as an ad. You don’t want such embarrassing inquiries to pop up, especially if someone is lurking over your shoulder.