TITLE:
Social Media Is a Juggernaut: Lagged Correlation Analysis Using Ngram Data on “Internet” and “Social Media” with Amplification by the Advent of the “iPhone”
AUTHORS:
William Zywiak, Gao Niu, Nicolas Petrell, Victoria Nichele, Kirsten Hokeness
KEYWORDS:
Ngram, Lagged Variance, Crypto, Microplastics, Social Media
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.6,
June
17,
2026
ABSTRACT: The amount of new information transmitted per day can be overwhelming. The data available through Ngram Viewer allows statistical examination to determine the most salient topics, as well as lagged correlation and lagged variance to support possible causal connections between concepts. Using this database, we determined that COVID, crypto, microplastics, and especially social media are important topics of the last few years. We also present results that suggest the development of the internet and the iPhone fueled the prominence of social media, and the access of the iPhone also increased access to the internet.