Don't worry, I Googled it.

Is it time for us to stop doing our own research and start trusting the experts?

If there is one sentence that has become a red flag in a Facebook comment thread or phone call over the past two years, it has to be: I’ve done my own research. 

It’s a sentence that I’ve seen and heard time and again immediately before someone disputes fact-based research done by experts with their Google search. And every time I listen to it, I can’t help but think: should we be doing our own research in this situation?

Last summer, the battery in my car died. My mom and I had never tried to charge a dead car battery from another vehicle before, but we had jumper cables and YouTube, so we stood on the sidewalk with the hood up, watching a video on my phone. We determined that we were more likely to damage both cars than we were to charge the battery, so we called CAA. This was not dissimilar to a year earlier when we stood in the bathroom (pre-pandemic) watching a YouTube video on how to cut bangs, which ended in my going to a salon the next day and paying $13 to have someone who knew what they were doing cut my hair instead. We may have been doing our own research, so to speak, but there was a sizeable gap between our research and our ability to correctly interpret and apply the findings in a way that would not have ended disastrously. 

We walk around with computers in our pockets every day. Resultantly, we do a lot of “research”. I personally spend considerable amounts of time Google searching random questions throughout the day, either because they are directly relevant to my life, like the grocery store hours, or because for some reason I really need to know how many types of bears are in the world. Doing this isn’t really research though; if anything, it’s a literature review. Research requires more time, sources, and exploration than I can get from a simple keyword search on Google. Instead, I’m relying on the research done by others to give me straightforward answers to complex questions. This is not the same as developing and conducting clinical medication trials or spending years learning how to interpret the results correctly. The space between reading an article online and doing reliable, independent research is considerable. 

While Google has improved its algorithm, and the first result for searching the phrase “the Holocaust didn’t happen” is now the Museum of Tolerance’s page on Holocaust denial rather than a White Supremacist website, that this was the case for so long points to an inherent danger when Google is your only research. The ability to look things up whenever we want is nothing short of amazing. But it comes with the caveat that search results draw from everywhere, regardless of the reliability. When the information is from a source lacking the weight of journalistic or professional integrity, there is no way to know if the information you are seeking out is more accurate. Specifically, the ability to shun recognized, reliable sources when they contradict the answer we want to hear is troubling. It has become too easy to disregard credible information favouring something our friend posted on Facebook. 

This perhaps brings us to the question: why do we feel the need to do our own research? 

I am not a doctor or a scientist. While I believe that there is merit to naturopathic remedies in certain circumstances, I don’t know enough to select them over conventional options when I’m sick or in pain and am receiving instructions from a medical professional on managing it. And I wholeheartedly believe that even an hour of Google searching will not equate to the amount of research required to truly make an informed decision that contradicts the advice of experts like doctors and scientists who have studied these things rigorously and extensively. I believe this is true in many areas where I am inadequately informed.

Some of the motivation to spurn reputable sources may come from a decline in trust within North American society. According to the Pew survey from 2019, 71% of Americans no longer trust people when they first meet them as compared to 20 years ago. Relying on research, as presented to us from historically reputable sources, requires trust. It demands that we can see the information submitted to us by experts, acknowledge that they know more than us, and trust in the answers they are giving. 

A Google search is not equivalent to doing your own research. Most of us do not have the time, skills, or energy to research every topic and issue that we need to deal with daily. A valuable first step to regaining trust in our society is to stop feeling the need to do our own research every time information is presented to us that contradicts our viewpoints, particularly when we are dealing with questions of science. While debate and discussion is, and always will be essential, they need to happen within the context of acknowledging that we are not all experts in every area, and that not every situation calls for us to independently fact-check the findings of those who are.