So, What Are You Giving Up for Lent?
Top 100 Things People Are Sacrificing This Spring, Based on Tweets
It used to be that once the Mardi Gras confetti was swept, people resolved to give up the usual suspects: chocolate, meat, alcohol, and, even, sugar for the 40 days leading up to Easter.
But, these days, Lent is a trending topic throughout social media.
Why is this even a thing? Where did it start?
Lent is a time when Christians prepare for Easter, and giving up something is a form of penance, a way of suffering in some small way to emulate the suffering of Jesus.
Since its ancient origins, Lent has evolved and now people of all faiths use this time to go without something meaningful. Each year people publicly proclaim what they will be giving up, and these days the medium of choice is social media. Perhaps it’s a way of garnering support or a form of accountability or even a proclamation of faith.
Whatever the motivation, #lent is a #trendingtopic worldwide.
Ironically, according to Open Bible’s Twitter Lent Tracker, giving up Twitter ranks third on the list of things people are giving up for Lent this season. Social Networking ranks second. Redundant maybe? But how will people post their progress? #confused.
Here a visualization of the data that one of the data scientists on our team, the talented Jacob Souch, put together for us (based on Open Bible data gathered from Twitter).
Number one on this year’s list is alcohol, a perennial top-five favorite. However with St. Patrick’s Day falling during the Lenten season, get ready for some #lentfail posts!
So let’s round out the top 5:
- Alcohol
- Social Networking
- Meat
- Chocolate
See the Top 100 things people are giving up over on our Tableau account.
→ Right here.
How is this 2020 list different from previous years? (Not so much.) Here is Twitter’s list from five years ago:
- Chocolate
- Social Networking
- Alcohol
- School
If this Lenten season gives you an excuse to review some habits and get a jumpstart on making changes (like giving up soda! I mean, we all know that stuff will kill ya!), then it’s a #win. But if you’re giving up coffee just to be one of the cool kids, get ready for your #headache!
Happy spring!
Several team members contributed to this report and its promotion, including Jacob, Julie, Caitlin, Nicola and James. It’s takes a village, (wo)man.
