Jay GreesonWe have become an instant information society. Been there a while, in fact.
There is no wondering in the moment, not when most of us have immediate access at the end of our fingertips to almost all factoids anywhere.
That capability is a lot of things - amazing, awkward, polarizing and particularly addictive. (If you don't think you or at least a third of your family is addicted to your iPhones or Samsungs or iPads or tablets, check everyone's electronic extension at the door at your next Christmas event and watch the squirming begin.)
There's no debating our dependence on those devices.
That said, the ability to quick-search anything - my friend Chris frequently challenges us to "Google it; Google it hard" - is beyond a social observation.
In fact, the details of what we're searching and how frequently comes very close to an eye-opening social commentary.
The results are not that flattering.
The top 10 Google searches for 2016, according to the computer giant were:
1. Powerball
2. Prince
3. Hurricane Matthew
4. Pokemon Go
5. Slither.io
6. Olympics
7. David Bowie
8. Donald Trump
9. Election
10. Hillary Clinton
It's a list filled with news, from the real life and death to the surreal moments of this political process and the disastrous tolls of the fall storm that hammered the Southeast, causing more than 1,000 deaths and $10 billion in damage.
Yes, it feels somewhat surprising that the information overload that was generated by the 2016 presidential vote did not generate enough clicks to rise above the No. 8 spot.
There's not a lot of better news in the "How to " internet searches according to Google, considering the top five how-to requests were "How to play Pokemon Go?" "How to register to vote"? "How to play Powerball?" "How to make slime" and "How to move to Canada?" But at least two of the top five on that list were election-related. Of all the names and noteworthy topics on the Google rankings, quite possibly the biggest outlier of this bunch is Slither.io.
Yes, I had to Google - and I Googled it hard, people - to even learn what Slither.io is.
In case you didn't know, Slither.io is an online game that offers multiple players the chance to move around a featureless realm while chomping up energy pellets and trying to avoid other larger players who can kill you with a single touch.
Maybe that commentary is not necessarily a new trend, considering Slither.io sounds a lot like an energy-pellet gobbling computer craze of the 1980s. Heck, you could even call it Pac-Man for the 21st century in a lot of ways.
(And for you whippersnappers not familiar with Pac-Man, well, Google it. Hard.)
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343. His "Right to the Point" column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on A2.