Google calendar tracks COVID-19 lockdown hobby trends

Google has created a calendar where users can track what hobbies or activities were trending during lockdown in 2020.

Google unveiled the platform on 9 April.

The interactive website uses a calendar of the past year to show what hobbies or activities were the most searched on each day in the US.

“Over the past year or so of quarantine, I’ve found myself searching for new things to do,” said Google News Lab data editor, Simon Rogers.

“I searched for ‘cheesemaking’ when my kids asked me to play sous chef, and for ‘bird watching’ and ‘how to create container gardens’ when we started spending more time outside. Like so many people, I looked up recipes for baking bread. My quarantine search history feels like a bingo card for hobbies.”

Google developed the website in partnership with design studio Polygraph.

Some of the activities that saw major interest include home canning, online poker, and spearfishing.

How to use the Google Trends data calendar

The Google trends calendar works by comparing the search volume of each activity in 2020 to their search volume in 2019.

Clicking on the site, you will see a calendar starting March 2020 and ending February 2021.

On the right side, the website has a breakdown of each day with the activity that was popular on each day. It also shows the seven-day rolling average for each activity.

To find a specific activity, write it in the search bar and the website will say what days the activity trended and by how much.

For example, creative writing saw a 1016% growth in user searches on 20 July. Searches on stamping grew by 1359% on 30 October.

The dates are colour-coded according to the type of activity. They include animals, arts and crafts, cooking, and sports and games.

Feature image: Unsplash/Solen Feyissa

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