The Year 2017 in Review

This is the time to recap the year that was.

There are a number of ways to do it, many of which are interesting. You can look at a year in terms of notable deaths, viral events, political rises and falls…

But how do you really get a 12-month snapshot of a culture’s zeitgeist?

I would argue for two words: Google searches.

I’m not saying that this will be what historians will mark in 10, much less 100 years… even less what is most significant. But I will say that it may be the clearest window into our current soul.

So here we go with a few peeks into our inner world, courtesy of Google itself.

Top 10 Searches:

1. Hurricane Irma
2. Matt Lauer
3. Tom Petty
4. Super Bowl
5. Las Vegas Shooting
6. Mayweather vs McGregor fight
7. Solar Eclipse
8. Hurricane Harvey
9. Aaron Hernandez
10. Fidget Spinner

Top 10 “How To…”:

1. How to make slime
2. How to make solar eclipse glasses
3. How to watch the solar eclipse
4. How to watch Mayweather vs McGregor
5. How to buy Bitcoin
6. How to freeze your credit
7. How to solve a rubix cube
8. How to make a fidget spinner
9. How to cook a turkey in the oven
10. How to screen record

Top 10 What is…:

1. What is DACA?
2. What is Bitcoin?
3. What is a solar eclipse?
4. What is ANTIFA?
5. What is net neutrality?
6. What is covfefe?
7. What is the antikythera mechanism?
8. What is a fidget spinner?
9. What is the Paris Climate Agreement?
10. What is a hurricane?

And finally, the Top 10 People of 2017 we were interested in:

1. Matt Lauer
2. Meghan Markle
3. Harvey Weinstein
4. Michael Flynn
5. Kevin Spacey
6. Bill O’Reilly
7. Melania Trump
8. Kathy Griffin
9. Milo Yiannopoulos
10. Gal Gadot

Welcome to our world.

James Emery White

Sources

See the “Year in Search 2017” for the United States, Google, read online. 

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Meet Generation Z: Understanding and Reaching the New Post-Christian World, is available on Amazon. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit ChurchAndCulture.org, where you can view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.