Finding purpose
Another surprising term whose search on Google has increased exponentially in the last decade is “finding purpose”. What kind of purpose? That probably depended on each individual’s situation. Along with “finding purpose”, many people have also looked for “bible verses” and “daily horoscope.” God and astrology – a bit of a contradiction, if you ask me, but, hey, each to its own.
It doesn’t surprise anyone that the Bible belt states registered the highest number of searches for “bible verses,” while the other states, particularly the ones in the north-east were extremely eager to find out their “daily horoscope.”
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DIY abortion
This is a startling search trend, but, it seems more and more people have searched for “how to have a miscarriage” or “how to self-abort” in recent years. As explained by New York Times columnist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, one of the reasons might be the closing of abortion clinics in several states across the country, making it exceedingly difficult, if not almost impossible, to get an abortion.
According to Google Trends, the number of Google searches using terms related to self-abortion was dramatically higher in states with the highest number of abortion restrictions, like Tennessee and Texas. In Texas, for instance, one study estimated that at least 100,000 Texas residents had tried to end a pregnancy on their own, by using various methods discovered on the internet.
