Every year, Google tries to give us an idea of what people cared most about during the last 12 months by showing us what people searched for the most. Previously called Zeitgeist, Google's collection of most searched topics is now called Year in Search.
The year 2013 signified fun times for most people as we were concerned about learning how to twerk, a type of dance popularized by singer Miley Cyrus during last year's MTV Video Music Awards. This year, we mourned a great loss when actor and comedian Robin Williams passed away in August.
The beloved actor's death also sparked a brand new openness about mental health and depression, with searches for "depression" increasing threefold, followed by searches for "depression symptoms" and "depression test."
Of course, 2014 had its fun times too, as people were more than excited to see the teams they are rooting for win the World Cup and in the Sochi Winter Olympics.
The ultra-addictive game "Flappy Bird" also made it into the global conversation. The game, a simple one made by a Vietnamese developer over the weekend, along with "2048" outshone big-budget games such as "Destiny," "Titanfall" and "FIFA 15" when it comes to search.
Disney princesses Elsa and Anna also shaped this year's defining moments, as "The Snow Queen" remake "Frozen" became the most searched for movie in 2014.
For a moment, however, the fun was overshadowed by grim headlines involving the Ebola virus which wiped out thousands of victims in Africa, the Malaysia Airlines MH370 tragedy and the Islamic State (ISIS), the terrorist group. It's good to know, though, that this year we searched for hope, with searches for "MH370 found" bypassing the number of searches for "MH370 lost."
Also in the top 10 most searched for topics is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which paved the way for global awareness about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Google says we searched for ALS more than we did over the last decade, with people wanting to know what it is, how it is caused and how people with ALS are affected by it.
This year also saw a spike in searches for celebrity losses, with searches for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Peaches Geldof, Shirley Temple, Maya Angelou, Joan Rivers and Gabriel Garcia Marquez jumping up after their deaths.
However, it's not just dead celebrities the world is obsessed with. We also like searching for living, breathing people, with Eurovision winner singer and drag queen Conchita Wurst surpassing Beyonce and Lady Gaga in the searches.
This year, Google says people are most concerned on "how" to do things instead of the "why," with the biggest question about how to AirDrop, a new feature introduced in Apple's new OS. Beyond tinkering with technology devices, we are most concerned about beauty, democracy and love, with the searches "how to contour," "how to vote" and "how to kiss" coming in next.
In the technology category, Apple's iPhone 6 was the most searched for device, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S5, Nexus 6, Moto G and the Samsung Note 4.
Interestingly, none of these devices made it to the top 10 most searched for topics. Last year, the iPhone 5S was the third most searched for topic in the world, while the Samsung Galaxy S4 placed eighth. 2012 saw the iPad 3 being one of the trending searches again and in 2011, the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 made it to the 10 most searched for topics of the year.
