Did You Google It?

Daily Prompt 2820

By now you know that I grew up without the World Wide Web. The closest I came to surfing the internet was learning how to use the microfiche machine at the Bethpage Public Library back in the early 1970s.

We also had a full set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, which I believe my parents acquired by opening an account at Reliance Federal Bank in town. If we needed to research something for school or settle a family debate, we pulled the appropriate volume off the shelf and flipped through those meticulously alphabetized pages. If the answer wasn’t there, we hopped on our bikes and pedaled across town to the library.

That was our search engine.

I don’t have to tell you how dramatically the world changed once the internet arrived. I dove headfirst into those technological waters and, quite frankly, haven’t come up for air since. In the immortal words of Jimmy Buffett, “I used to rule my world from a pay phone…” These days? I pretty much rule mine from my cell phone.

Our phones have become modern-day encyclopedias that fit in our pockets. There is virtually nothing you can’t learn online. Apple even coined one of its most memorable slogans back in 2009: “There’s an app for that.” They weren’t kidding. You can fix things, cook things, exercise, learn a language, decorate a house, diagnose why your hydrangeas are sulking, and probably teach a goat to tap dance if you’re willing to search long enough.

I don’t even know what generation I officially belong to anymore. Am I Gen X? Gen Z? Gen XYZ? Hold on…let me Google it.

My parents, born in 1939 and 1940, were introduced to the internet later in life. They were/are incredibly smart people, but this whole technology thing? Well…let’s just say my sister and I became the family IT department.

The calls came at all hours.

“Karen Anne…something’s wrong with the computer.”

One afternoon I drove over to my parents’ condo to find my dad in a complete tizzy.

“I don’t know,” he said. “It just isn’t working.”

I glanced at the computer tower. There, glowing quietly, was the blue power button.

I pressed it.

The computer sprang to life.

My father looked at me as though I had just performed open-heart surgery.

He called me a miracle worker.

I grabbed my keys, kissed him on the cheek, and said, “I learned from the best, Daddy.”

Then I giggled all the way home.

From that point on, my lessons became simple.

“When in doubt…Google it.”

I explained that if you typed almost any question into Google, you’d probably find your answer within the first few results. Once they mastered Googling, they graduated to YouTube.

Our next family curriculum included searching for instructional videos, saving them, forwarding them, and discovering that there really was a video for just about everything.

It was a glorious new chapter.

The very people who had once sent me downstairs to the encyclopedias and across town to the library were now being taught by their oldest daughter how to navigate the digital world.

I’m happy to report that Mom has become quite the student. She’s currently designing her new bathroom using ideas, photos, and apps she’s finding entirely on her own. I couldn’t be prouder.

Watching all of this unfold has made me realize something. During my lifetime, learning didn’t become easier—it became more accessible. We traded card catalogs for search bars, encyclopedias for smartphones, and waiting days for answers for finding them in seconds. But the real lesson hasn’t changed one bit. Curiosity is still the engine. Whether we were turning brittle pages in Volume G of the Britannica or asking Google a question at two o’clock in the morning, the joy has always been the same. We simply never stopped learning. We just found faster, smarter, and sometimes far more entertaining ways to get there.

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Author: KikiFikar

Kiki Fikar is a native New Yorker who is passionate about taking the day to day life we all experience and sharing it in her tales from Suburbia. She will often be found at the gym, writing snippets each day for future story lines, listening to her two children create their lives, and building the perfect beachfront home and writing retreat in her mind.

34 thoughts on “Did You Google It?”

  2. This is excellent and so true. I come from those days for sure. Your parents story I have lived and gave me two great post ideas about them, the internet, computers. My mom is how they say difficult so she calls me with the same issues, the guy 40 years in tech then tells me I’m wrong as I fix her problem tey called about. I will not even get into the password maze here.

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    1. I’m snurgling as I type this. You of all people must have a gazillion stories with your background. Sometimes though I’m sure our families are the toughest clients!

      Does your mother have a tiny spiral notebook that she keeps all of her passwords in? In pencil? Very high tech.

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  4. the only computer we had in high school was one in the library that determined you ideal line of work based on how you answered a few questions. Mine said Mathematician or Nuclear Engineer. I laughed and thought no way, in the end I wound up operating a nuclear power plant on a submarine.

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  5. Reading this felt like stepping into a time machine—one where curiosity hasn’t changed, only the tools we use to chase it. There’s something almost sacred about the way you describe learning back then: the weight of a Britannica volume in your hands, the quiet hum of a library, the intention behind every answer earned instead of instantly given. It wasn’t just about finding information—it was about the journey to it.

    What really stayed with me, though, is how beautifully that same curiosity carried forward into the digital age. You didn’t resist the change—you embraced it, dove into it, and then turned around and became the bridge for your parents. That moment with your dad and the “miracle” power button? That’s more than funny—it’s human. It’s a reminder that every generation has its learning curve, and sometimes the roles reverse in the most meaningful ways.

    I love your realization that learning didn’t get easier—just more accessible. That distinction matters. Because while answers now come faster, the desire to ask the question in the first place—that spark—that’s timeless. Whether it’s flipping pages under a lamp or tapping a screen at 2 a.m., the heart behind it is the same: we want to understand more, do more, be more.

    And maybe that’s the real constant across generations—not the technology, but the quiet, persistent drive to keep growing. You captured that perfectly.

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    1. And you my friend wrapped this up perfectly with your thought about crossing generations. We all hopefully have that need to keep growing and can help each other bridge to the other side. Let’s promise to always keep going! xoxoxo

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  7. i love thinking back to the days of the early internet. but moreso, i love hearing the experiences of those that went through that learning curve too 🙂 this was a great read Karen! I hope you are having a great Sunday!Mike

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  8. omg 😂 excellent post. If you were born from 1965-1980 you are gen x…as in excellent generation…as in my generation 😁 if you were born within the 15 years prior to that…Boomer. I took computers in high school, bit that was all coding stuff, didn’t care. But when the internet hit???? Let’s just say I miss my first social media friend Tom from MySpace.

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  9. The world changed dramatically after the internet, and Google became the expert of everything. The children being born these days will never know another reality; we were blessed enough to go through all the change and experience different paradigms. It truly believes it has more value in this way! Thank you for this beautiful and entertaining piece that honors the old and new times, Karen! Much enjoyed and resonating deeply with your thoughts! Light and blessings to you, my friend! 🙏✨💖🌻🌈

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    1. Thank you so much my friend! I am so happy to have lived through both. I don’t like math but I’m thrilled I can do math thanks to learning how to do it without assistance – maybe only a calculator in my later years in school. xoxo

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  10. No one in the world would call me a techie. It’s just not who I am, but to my in-laws my wife and I are tech geniuses. In a strange way, it’s kind of cool. In a strange way. Ha, ha. Love how you phrased it — “During my lifetime, learning didn’t become easier—it became more accessible.” And the thing Curiosity is the engine!!! I had a teach who used to say that. I still believe it.

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  11. At my current age, I am not unappreciative of web searches, but there was the thrill of anticipation when peddling to the library. 🚵

    We got our encyclopedias, one at a time, at the local Pantry Pride. Sitting at the end of our complete set was the Almanac.

    You had me until the tap-dancing goats!🐐🐐

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  12. Twinnie, great post! Extra credit for sneaking in a JB quote.

    Dunno if you ever saw the movie “Used Cars” with Kurt Russell, some SCTV peeps and Michael McKean (“Lenny”) but it’s a hilarious sleeper. There’s one part where he has some hare-brained idea and Kurt Russell ain’t buying it. Lenny says “If I can install a pacemaker in this man’s chest (thumps some dude), I can do it.”

    That’s YT. Geez, no matter what crazy oddball thing you’re trying to do, there’s a vid on it. Replace the motor mount on a washer, build a beer bong, find a surfing workout…it’s amazing.

    But I still liked the days of pedaling to the library 😎❤️📚

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    1. Ooooh no I remember knowing about this movie at the time it came out, but I don’t think that I’ve ever seen it. I am going to watch it this weekend! I shall report back..

      JB for the win!

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  13. Wow, encyclopedias, those were my go-to back in the day. Google’s still king, and God bless the creators of Google search. Have you tried taking a picture of something and asking ChatGPT to recommend options to remodel or upgrade? It’s incredible. I just did that for our garden and I’m going to start working on it as soon as this extreme heat passes.

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  15. A nostalgic and engaging reflection! It’s amazing to see how far technology has come—from a world without the internet to one where information is available in an instant. Those memories make today’s innovations even more meaningful. 💻✨

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  16. I remember having all of those giant encyclopedias laying around the house, and now I have just a phone and a pc. These two electronic encyclopedias definitely have reduced my researching footprint. I agree we’ve never stopped being able to learn, and in fact learning is more accessable…and quicker. That’s a winning combo for sure.

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  17. This struck a familiar chord with me. What resonated most was your observation that learning didn’t become easier—it became more accessible. That’s an important distinction.

    I grew up in the encyclopedia and library era as well. In fact, I still use microfiche when I want to take a deep dive into a subject. There was something satisfying about chasing an answer through bookshelves, card catalogs, and reels of archived newspapers. Today, the journey is much shorter, but the destination is still the same. The tool has changed; curiosity hasn’t.

    Your story also reminded me that one of life’s quiet privileges is watching knowledge come full circle. The people who once taught us how to find answers eventually trust us to help them navigate a world that didn’t exist when they were our age. There’s something deeply meaningful about that exchange.

    Thank you for sharing this. It was a wonderful reminder that technology may change how we learn, but curiosity remains the engine that keeps us moving forward.

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