What are you Searching For?
Published: June 9, 2010
Far more people in Canada used the Internet for “personal interactions” last year than those who didn’t. According to Statistics Canada, “Eighty per cent of Canadians age 16 and over used the Internet for personal reasons in 2009, up from 73 per cent two years earlier.” I was a bit surprised that only 80% used the Internet. Less surprising is that “98 per cent of those between 16 and 24 went online”. (CBC)
What are people doing online? “The most common household internet use was email, while health information was the topic most frequently searched.” Although Facebook and other social networking sites have become increasingly popular, email remains (for the moment) the most frequent activity.
I wonder how they determined that “health information” was the most popular search topic? What does that topic encompass? According to Google’s Keyword Suggestion Tool, keywords like “so lonely” and “I’m alone” are searched hundreds of thousands of times per month, while “loneliness” and “sadness” are searched a million times or more.
People are reaching out for help online, perhaps because of the wealth of information available, but also because anonymity offers an opportunity for honesty that might not be an option in face-to-face conversations. For many who are going through difficult personal matters, confidential online mentoring is an attractive option for personalized one-on-one conversations.
What are you searching for online? If lately you’ve been searching for something a little deeper than the latest Justin Bieber gossip, check out one of our popular videos, “Do you crave meaning? (Part 1 of 2)“
