Search Is a Distraction
December 8, 2011
You probably know that the Pew research outfit has revealed that most people go online for what I would describe as “displacement activities”. What’s a displacement activity. My recollection is that it is non directive activity which distracts an unemployed English major, a failed Webmaster, or a self appointed expert from deep thinking about one’s existential condition. In other words, goofing around.
Google’s search app for the iPad has picked up an unwelcome feature. Well, unwelcome to me, not to Google; ZDNet reports, “Google adds instant previews to iPad search app.”
This annoyance is just one new feature included in the recent Google Search update for Apple’s iPads running iOS 4 or iOS 5. The release has several enhancements that should make it more competitive with the built-in Safari. I hope most are more helpful than the instant preview; we learned from the write up:
The app now includes Google Instant, so that search results stream in as people type. Google has coupled this with its Instant Preview technology, giving users a quick look at a destination site without having to load it. These results show up in a string of previews, similar to Google’s overhauled image search carousel, which lets people swipe through images much like music albums in Apple’s cover-flow view.
Some folks must find this feature useful, but for me, it’s just distracting. I start to type “pecan pie” and get botany lessons on my way to a recipe? Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough trouble staying on task without my app offering tempting tangents. Great platform for a business model: distracted clicking. Surf’s up.
Cynthia Murrell, December 8, 2011
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