“How’s it going?”
“Bad.”
“Oh.”
You ever have one of those conversations with someone? The kind where you can’t put on the facade of a happy face or squeeze out a platitude from your overworked, anxiety-riddled brain? The sort of conversation that is unapologetically fatigued and defeated? Yeah, that’s kind of how all of America feels right now.
According to Google Trends data, Americans are tired of searching for the latest numbers and results from what will surely be a historic election. Instead, they’ve turned to coping mechanisms, particularly booze. The tech giant’s search engine found that the query “liquor store near me” reached an all-time high on election night, with citizens from Maryland, Tennessee, and Georgia leading the charge. Delaware, the home state of Democrat candidate Joe Biden, topped this list, perhaps unsurprisingly.
Alcohol wasn’t the only thing on the minds of Americans on election night, though. Seeking to eat their feelings, Americans also searched for “fries near me” and “chinese food near me” at a historic clip. Trump clinching Florida’s bountiful electorate votes resulted in a spike for searches asking “how to move to Canada.”
Though Americans are trying, the anxiety over the election is suffocating the nation. Since election day, Google has noted an uptick in searches for anxiety. This is consistent with data leading up to the election itself, which indicated the election was a major source of fear and anxiety for Americans. In an effort to help folks out, Google has begun suggesting that users check-in with loved ones in an effort to ameliorate the emotions and stressors.
All of that data basically reveals what the rest of the world probably knew already: no, we’re not okay. But thanks for asking.
Interested in reading more about how Google is interpreting user data? Why don’t you check out our article about how Eric Trump thinks Google is using anime to hide the truth? Yeah, I’m serious. That happened.
