I remember my first semester of college--aka the first time living on my own without Mom and Dad around for help with laundry and meals. I was a bundle of nerves--and called home way too often, begging for last minute advice.
These days, instead of bugging Mom and Dad, kids only have to turn to the Internet for the answers to all of life's toughest questions.
“Around this time of year, when college kids head to school, we see searches on Yahoo! spike for laundry how-tos, oil changes, even the best way to boil an egg,“ says Vera Chan, Web Trend Analyst for Yahoo!. “We’re thinking a lot of students scramble to go online to cram some of life’s lessons, instead of admitting to mom and dad they weren’t paying attention when they should have. Welcome to independence.”
So what do college kids want to know right now? Check out Yahoo's search analysis below:
- Ever turn all your whites pink? “How to do laundry” searches are up 10% this week on Yahoo!
- Trying to avoid the Freshman 15? Yahoo! searches for “How to lose weight in 10 days” are spiking on Yahoo! this month.
- Late night cramming for a test? Searches for “How to cope with stress” are up 189% this week on Yahoo!
- High school sweethearts? Searches on Yahoo! for “How to make long distance relationships work” are up 155% this week, while searches for “tips for long distance relationships” are up 40% this week.
- Don’t get accused of plagiarism – Searches on Yahoo! for “How to cite a textbook” and “How to cite a website” are off the charts this month. We are even seeing searches for “what constitutes plagiarism”.
- Dorm life movie viewing – “How to connect a laptop to a TV” searches are up 37% this month on Yahoo!
- No mechanic around? Searches on Yahoo! for “How to change your oil” are way up, too.
- No more Chef Mom? Searches for “How to hard boil an egg” are up 18% this month, while “How to cook spaghetti” searches are up over 600% and searches for “How to bake a potato” are skyrocketing this month on Yahoo!
Free consultation 
