“As a data editor at Google, my job is to glean insights from the mountain of search data, and I can tell you that the database of our actual intentions proves the exact opposite [of the internet making us more isolated, polarized and selfish].”

“When disasters strike, human beings reliably follow a strict cognitive path — first, we seek to understand the threat, and second, we take action to help others.”

“We saw this during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, where people battening down the hatches and stockpiling emergency supplies paused to search for something personal, understandable and very human: “How to calm a dog in a storm.””

“In September 2024, when Hurricane Helene made landfall, the affected states all saw spikes in searches related to keeping pets safe — “pet friendly hurricane shelters near me” in Florida and “how to calm a puppy down” in Georgia, for example.”

“On the day of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, blood donations spiked +1,550% across the US.”

“In the days after the devastating 2023 wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the top-trending search on donations across all of Google was “Maui fire donation.””

“We see this pattern repeat itself every time there is a huge global event — from the top-trending donation search for the Noto earthquake in Japan in 2024, to the massive surge in searches to “Donate to Ukraine” in 2022.”

“in both the US and the UK, the top-searched query in this category for the last decade has been “How to help someone with depression,” followed closely by anxiety and panic attacks.”

“Rogers is the author of What We Ask Google: A Surprisingly Hopeful History of Humankind (Plume, out now.)”