The year 2021 had us all looking for the answers online. Photo / Getty Images
The year 2021 had us all looking for the answers online. Photo / Getty Images
When you're stuck at home in lockdown, what is there to do but probe the internet for answers to the questions of life?
From cryptocurrency to Kim K's love life, Kiwis have been curious about a whole lot of things this year.
Blocked canals, cricket scores, Olympic medals and of course, Covid all featured heavily in our Google searches this year.
And the data reveals that the pandemic had a huge impact on what we were searching for. In fact, Covid-19 was the most used search term of them all, as well as other Covid-related terms like locations of interest and My Covid Record - followed closely by sporting news including the NBA, NRL and Cricinfo.
But Covid-related searches weren't just about vaccine information and case numbers. Lockdown saw a surge in recipe-related searches as well. When level 4 hit, Kiwis took to Google to find their favourite sweet and savoury comfort recipes to get them through.
The data reveals apple crumble was the most popular dessert search of the year, followed by scones, cinnamon rolls, pancakes and the ever-popular banana bread. Savoury recipe searches were all about the comfort and the carbs, from bread to pizza dough to carbonara pasta.
What else did we do in lockdown? Binged TV shows, of course. The data shows Netflix's Squid Game was the most-searched for TV show of the year, followed by Bridgerton, NZ-made Sweet Tooth and of course the long-awaited Friends reunion.
This year saw Google searches for comfort recipes like banana bread skyrocket during lockdown. Photo / Getty Images
We tend to lose all sense of time and place during lockdown, and this reflected in our Google searches too - it looks like some of us needed reminding of some important dates this year.
The top search in this category was "When is Father's Day?" Every good Kiwi already knows the answer to that (It's Sunday).
And as usual, we took to Google to remind ourselves of when Daylight Saving ended, when the next blood moon would rise, and of course, when is lockdown going to end?
When we weren't preoccupied with Covid news, there were plenty other news events going on in the world to keep up with - from the Suez Canal blockage to the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
Alec Baldwin dominated Google searches after the Rust film set shooting. Photo / Getty Images
And there were plenty of global figures or celebrities we followed throughout the year.
The Kiwi we googled most often was the one and only Lisa Carrington, followed by fellow sportswoman Lydia Ko and National's now former leader Judith Collins. Brian Tamaki, Chris Cairns, and of course Lorde also feature in the list of Kiwis we were most interested in this year.
It's been quite the year for celebrity news as well. Kiwis kept track of public figures we lost this year, from Māori All Black Sean Wainui to the Queen of England's husband Prince Philip himself.
Meanwhile, actor Alec Baldwin dominated headlines and our Google searches, as did little Cleo Smith, our beloved Adele, and - who could forget - Pete Davidson and his enigmatic dating history.
