What Did Your State Give up for Lent?
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Every year, Christians and even some non-religious Millennials choose to give something up for Lent, the annual 40 days of reflection and prayer that lead up to Easter.
What goes to the chopping block? Individuals are often encouraged to ditch a vice like drinking or gossiping, favorite food or not-so-great habit, like bashing people on Twitter.
So what have people in your state been avoiding — or trying to avoid — since Lent started on February 10? This map, which ATTN: put together using Google search results aggregated by TIME, shows that in addition to the usual suspects of alcohol and sweets, people are really challenging themselves this year.
It's Going to be a Long 40 Days For Some.
Forgoing an item for the Lenten season traditionally commemorates the time that Jesus Christ spent fasting in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry, although many see it simply as a way to create better habits. Either way, it's not always an easy decision.
The results varied from state-to-state but according to Google searches aggregated by TIME, food and drink abstentions were still the most contemplated in more than half of the 50 states. Among them, meat was the most popular item to give up, rounding out the top of the Google search list in eight different states: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Wyoming, Hawaii and Vermont.
Alcohol followed closely, with residents in seven states showing an interest in going sober for Lent based on their searches. Meanwhile, the Bluegrass State decided to give up fried foods and Utah planned to ditch junk food. Others gave up happiness — I mean, coffee — including South Dakota and Maryland. Nebraskans are ditching carbs, while Washingtonians are saying no to dating.
12 states scattered all over the map are passing on some kind of candy for Lent, whether sugar, sweets, or chocolate, which was also the top tweeted item to give up for Lent in 2016.
Moving away from food and drink, five states are giving up sex this Lenten season, and another four are on a social media fast.
Some states, however, appear to stand alone. Idaho residents are abstaining from Netflix, Oklahomans are abandoning fear and Virginians will stop being self-critical. Then there's Delaware, where people won't be doing much Google searching until Lent is over, because they gave up the Internet.
Read more about how TIME and Google created their rankings here.
