THIS Might Be The Scariest Thing About The Brexit Vote

As the world woke up stunned by the results of Britain's vote to leave the European Union, one resounding question has echoed across Twitter, Facebook, and major news organizations: "How did this happen?" And according to search results from Google, many people may not have understood not only the massive ramifications of their vote, but what they were voting for in the first place. As noted by The Verge, the top searches in the U.K. — after the vote happened — included questions such as, "What will happen if Britain leaves the EU?" and "What does leaving the EU mean for the U.K.?"

Even scarier is that another popular trending query in the hours following the vote was, "What is the EU?" These are searches that should have happened and questions that should have been asked long, long before ballots were cast — not afterward. The decision to leave the EU was made by a narrow 4% victory margin. This means that if even a small percentage of people didn't really "get" what they were voting for, their failure to educate themselves before the vote could have repercussions on an international scale for years to come.

If you learn one thing from the Google searches in the past 24 hours, maybe it should be that now is the time to take pounds out of the bank, as the AP reports the pound is at a 31-year low. (However, if you're looking to buy British goods, you'll be getting more bang for your buck.) Unfortunately, this good exchange rate is an indication of falling markets abroad.