Andy Russell seems to believe that we not only can, but should. In his explanation for why, Russell writes:

Between now and the end of February I will outline how I use Google on a regular basis, what I plan to do in order to March Away, and what I think I might learn. I haven’t the least desire to take part in flame wars about whether or not Google is turning evil or not. I actually don’t really have a strong opinion on the matter–although this experiment has been inspired in part by a conversation with Siva Vaidhyanathan, who has some very strong opinions. As far as I know, I don’t know anybody who works for (or even used to work for) Google, so I don’t have any sort of personal agenda or disclaimer at all. I am just curious to see what happens when one tries to exit Google.

I first spotted this around the end of February. Right before the “March Away” happened. I thought surely, this is a hoax. It is not. I am pleased to report that Andy has survived a full week away from Google. He has not caught fire, shriveled, or suffered any rare side effects. I support Andy in his experiment, but I have to question why a person with no strong say in the “Google is Evil” argument, would choose to see what life without Google is like.

For me, the idea of life without Google is a scary idea. In fact, I’m not sure how I did survive before I was given one of those early “exclusive” invites to Gmail. Now, I feel like Google is my own personal assistant. All of my mail filters through my Google accounts, my wedding blog is on Blogger, my calenders are all synced through Google, and anything else that could possibly need to get my hands on is through Google. I am also one of “those teachers” whose first question to a student asking a ridiculous question is “Did you G/google it?” (I still have not resolved this issue).

But this post is not about my life with Google or Andy’s life without Google. Instead, it’s about paying close attention to what Andy has to say in regards to life without Google over the next month. I’m not sure why anybody would just walk away from something like this without a good reason. So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be paying close attention to what Andy has to say and whether there is any merit to abandoning my personal assistant in lieu of reinventing the wheel.

Good luck, Andy!