dc.contributor.advisor | Shona, Wood | |
dc.contributor.author | Starck, Hedda Lærum | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-12-22T10:10:44Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-12-22T10:10:44Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2023-11-16 | |
dc.description.abstract | Seasonal rhythms in humans are fascinating but studying them is inherently challenging due
to the need for data that covers multiple years. Due to the experimental obstacles, it remains
debated whether humans exhibit seasonal fluctuations in aspects such as activity levels and
libido. To approach these topics through indirect digital measures, this thesis used multi-year
data from Google Trends to investigate seasonal variations in daily search activity patterns
and pornography interest. We demonstrate a new method for modelling aggregate search data
and calculating daily search activity durations. Our analyses detected seasonal differences in
daily search activity duration in areas in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (Norway,
Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, and Victoria (Australia)). There was an approximately 20-
minute average difference in search activity duration between spring and winter in the
Northern Hemisphere and between summer and winter in the Southern Hemisphere. We also
detected a clear inverse relationship between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’
seasonal fluctuations in search activity length. Similarly, we detected seasonal differences in
search interest for pornography. Both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres showed a
larger pornography search interest during the summer. However, significant surges in
searches during the Christmas season and smaller spikes around Easter indicate that leisure
time during holidays plays a crucial role in driving search interest for pornography. In brief,
this study indicates seasonality in two important aspects of human lives: activity levels and
libido but does not attempt to identify the underlying cause of the observed patterns. | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/32234 | |
dc.language.iso | eng | en_US |
dc.publisher | UiT Norges arktiske universitet | en_US |
dc.publisher | UiT The Arctic University of Norway | en_US |
dc.rights.accessRights | openAccess | en_US |
dc.rights.holder | Copyright 2023 The Author(s) | |
dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 | en_US |
dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) | en_US |
dc.subject.courseID | BIO-3950 | |
dc.subject | seasonal rhythms | en_US |
dc.subject | human | en_US |
dc.subject | activity | en_US |
dc.subject | sleep-wake | en_US |
dc.subject | libido | en_US |
dc.title | Human responses to year-round lighting using Google Trends to investigate seasonality in activity patterns and libido | en_US |
dc.type | Master thesis | en_US |
dc.type | Mastergradsoppgave | en_US |