Google strikes again. It’s not for the first time that the search engine superpower has thrown up a mirror to ourselves, sharing our innermost thoughts.
A new study by CPR First Aid has revealed Australia’s most googled personal goals have been over the November to February break. Generally speaking, we value health over careers, with five health-related goals coming in above developing one’s career, which ranked nationally at #6.
What are everyone’s top goals?
Losing weight was our number one priority over the summer break Australia-wide, with Aussies looking up inquiries related to weight loss twice as much as the next most popular personal goal. And what goal was that? Healthy eating, followed by drinking more water. People were also particularly interested in stopping snoring, putting down the cigarettes, developing their career paths, getting better sleep and putting an end to drinking. We’ve got some seriously admirable goals in mind, people.
So what’s the breakdown per state?
Northern Territory
Folks up north were primarily interested in how to eat well – 2.8% more than the other states, to be exact. But that wasn’t the only goal on the agenda. In order, Northern Territory residents also searched how to quit smoking (28.56% more than other Aussie states), followed by how to stop drinking, how to get better sleep and how to budget – which was searched a whopping 132% more than the rest of the nation.
ACT
No one is as concerned about drinking water as the residents of the Australian Capital Territory, with searches for this topic at 11.34% above the national average. Healthy eating topped their interest charts, too, like all of the other states.
Tasmania
Tassie residents were more interested in stopping snoring – 22.2% more invested than the rest of Australia it would seem. How to deal with anxiety also came in at #10 after how to budget.
Western Australia
Western Australians were particularly interested in developing their career path, and were correspondingly interested in time management tips (how organised). How to get better sleep ranked last in their top 10 priorities.
Queensland
Queenslanders similarly looked into weight, healthy eating and drinking water. They searched for how to quit smoking and budgeting slightly more than their New South Wales neighbours .
New South Wales
How’s this for a brain bender; New South Welshmen wanted to stop overthinking things, and took to Google to crack the code over summer. They also searched how to lose weight slightly more than other states – around 2.5% more.
Victoria
Victorians were fairly straight down the line, with their top goals fitting the general theme of weight loss, eating well and so on. Overall, searching for budgeting tips didn’t rank in their top 10, but how to stop overthinking and anxiety did close out their list.
What’s the conclusion?
CPR First Aid commented on the findings saying that the they aimed to cover as as wide a range of personal goals as possible, from jobs and mental health to addictions and lifestyle habits like procrastination and biting nails. They were surprised that all the top five goals Aussies aim for were entirely health-related.
The takeaway? Being healthy seems more important to us than our career trajectories, for instance, and that speaks volumes about our priorities as a society. Amen to that!
