Watch CBS News

'Porn' And 'Lonely' Among Top Late Night Google Searches In US

Mountain View, Calif. (CBS SACRAMENTO) -- Google data analysis suggests that "porn" and "suicide" searches dominate late night online inquiries, while searches for free video games and other anonymous searches flow throughout the day.

A New York Times analysis of Google's "very sharp" data for New York state pinpointed some rather precise searches throughout the day and night.

"Unblocked games," or those not blocked by school administrators, peaks at 8:04 a.m., and stays high throughout the day until 1:30 p.m. Searches for "weather," "prayer" and "news" peak before 5:30 a.m., suggesting Americans wake up early across their respective time zones.

Bizarre questions and those pursuing "anxiety" and "suicide" answers are rampant throughout late night hours. Google's released data doesn't show the total number of searches, but rather, the search rate for a word and at what time it's highest – meaning an unusually large amount of searches went out at that respective hour.

The term "symptoms" is highest late at night, with worrisome Google searches seeking information on heart attacks, cancers, tumor and H.I.V. symptoms.

The query of "why is my poop green?" is asked of Google most between 5 and 6 a.m. and then again between 6 and 7 p.m.

In the U.K., searches for "Tinder" peak at 12:30 a.m., searches for porn peak at 1:30 a.m., and almost exactly one hour later, the search term "lonely" hits its peak at 2:30 a.m. In the U.S., searches between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. are key times for humans' most vast inquiries: "What is the meaning of consciousness? Does free will exist? Is there life on other planets? The popularity of these questions late at night may be a result, in part, of cannabis use. Search rates for 'how to roll a joint'" reports The Times.

"Porn" is three times more popular among men than women, with midnight to 2 a.m. being the key time period. "Literotica" appeals primary to women, with a similarly early-morning presence from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

And search terms get sloppier as the day progresses, the Times reports of the Google data.

"Between 2 and 3 a.m., search rates for 'forgot password' are 60 percent higher than average. They are lowest around 9 a.m. Between 2 and 3 a.m., we are more than twice as likely to misspell 'facebook' as 'facbook' and nearly twice as likely to misspell 'weather' as 'wether.'"

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.