Has the Google Generation Gone Gaga?

Google is a wonderful thing. As both consumer and journalist, I don’t know what I’d do without the ability to search for any piece of information I need by simply typing it in and pressing ‘enter’. I can still remember the days of reaching for one of the big red books in our Encyclopedia Britannica collection for help with homework or, failing that, persuading mum to take me to the library to search for it there. Of course, neither of those options would help with current, up-to-the-minute news and information. To be able to access a world of information at home, at the push of a button, is truly a remarkable thing and you’d have therefore imagined the ‘now generation’ to be more knowledgeable, with their ability to be constantly informed about breaking global news events, scientific discoveries, important governmental decisions, the views of countries around the world. Of course, that would actually involve searching for those things – it all depends on what you type into that search engine and the incredibly scientific research I conducted into this made for some interesting reading.


To gauge what three developed countries – Australia, the US and the UK – felt were the important matters of the day, I wanted to know the information they were most desperately seeking. I typed in ‘is’ followed by the space bar to bring up the ten most popular searches on each country’s Google directory page and what I found was somewhat alarming. The top search was the same for each country, indicating that it is a matter of deep concern for the people of those nations. It was this - ‘is Lady Gaga a man?’ Yes, that’s right, the developed world is desperate to seek the truth of this matter of international importance. In fact, ‘is Lady Gaga a hermaphrodite?’ ranks as the third and fourth most searched for question in America and Australia respectively. Perhaps it should be discussed on Question Time.

The US appears to be a nation of hypochondriacs – both ‘is bronchitis contagious?’ and ‘is tonsillitis contagious?’ makes it into its top ten. Our American friends also seem to share an obsession with Justin Bieber with the Aussies, but whereas Australia just wants to know whether he will be visiting their country, the US wants to know if he is bi-sexual. Bieber fever obviously hasn’t hit the UK yet but there does seem to be a lot of rumours going around about celebrity deaths. The eighth most popular search is ‘is Leona Lewis dead?’, although apparently we Brits are far more concerned with the fate of the huge star that is Barry Chuckle. Yes, the question of whether Barry Chuckle, of the Chuckle Brothers fame, is dead is the second most popular search on google.co.uk. I have to confess that this intrigued me so I clicked on it and up popped dozens of sites claiming that the ‘to me, to you’ star has been found dead in a brothel in Belfast. But fear not, Chuckle Brothers fans, this shocking revelation appears to be an elaborate hoax, or at least that’s what the official Chuckle Brothers site (yes, there really is one) states – according to them, it’s a hoax that has been around since 2008, more recently resurfacing this year.

I do find it rather alarming that out of the top ten searches in what are supposed to be three of the most educated countries in the world, not one is of serious international importance. And no, I do not consider Lady Gaga’s gender or Justin Bieber’s sexual orientation a globally pressing matter.

What is perhaps most worrying is the search that ranks eighth and fifth in Australia and the UK respectively – ‘is it wrong to sleep with your sister?’ Maybe I should go and live on a boat in the middle of the ocean with The Husband after all.