DeGooglify Your Life

Over the years, Google has maintained their massive lead over other search engines. They have become so synonymous with the task that to look something up has become to google something. But if you’re like me, and looking to get away from the Google Monopoly, I’ve put together a list of alternatives that you can implement in your life. Enjoy!

Search Engines
We all know google mainly as a search engine. Introduced initially in 1998, Google is actually younger than its competitor, Yahoo! Which was first introduced in 1995. I’m sure there is plenty written about why Google won the search engine war so soundly, but over the years, other engines have popped up to take a small percentage of Google’s traffic.
Yahoo! Is the oldest of the bunch and certainly offers the most well rounded experience on their homepage. Features include email, sports, entertainment, as well as a quick weather report and topical news. There’s even a horoscope! Bing offers many of the same features, with weather, reports on the stock market, and a map feature. My search engine of choice is DuckDuckGo, which has less bells and whistles but doesn’t allow trackers to follow you from website to website, and offers transparency on how they make money. All three are good alternatives, but if you’re looking for more in depth information, this article from Life Wire can point you in the right direction.

Web Browser
Chrome was first introduced in 2008 and quickly became popular with users. Boasting itself as the “fastest” browser available, with customization features that would load into whatever computer you were using it on. But there are better alternatives out there! Safari and Microsoft Edge come installed on Apple and Windows computers respectively. I’m not super familiar with them, as my browser of choice for a long time has been Opera but if you’re looking for something with overall usability and speed, Firefox has been the best choice for years. It comes with powerful ad blockers, and is available on Windows, Apple, and Linux so whatever machine you’re using, it’s available to you.

Maps
When I first searched “Alternatives to google maps” I was disheartened to see that the top suggestion was Waze, an app that is owned by Google. There are specialty apps for public transportation, hiking and bike paths, and even boating, but Google Maps was one of the only options I could find that worked the way I wanted it to in Brooklin. Then I remembered MapQuest, first launched in 1996 and still going strong, MapQuest offers many of the same features and works well in my limited experience.

Email
I’ll admit, this is one of the last holdouts that I haven’t been able to give up. I made my email account as a teenager, and I haven’t been able to give it up. There are plenty of alternatives for email addresses. Yahoo! Is among the most popular, but another alternative is ProtonMail. People like ProtonMail for the security features and anti-phishing measures to ensure a safe experience for users.

Overall, Google is probably going to remain in your life no matter what. But that’s not all necessarily a bad thing. This post isn’t to scare you or put you off all things google, but to give some alternatives if you’re interested and don’t know where to start. I hope that you’ve found something new to try out!