Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
While three-fourths of all American Internet users know that a megabyte is bigger than a kilobyte and roughly 70 percent can correctly identify a captcha from a picture, less than half know when the first iPhone was released, and not even one in four know that the Internet and the World Wide Web are two different things.
Those revelations are among the findings of a recent Pew Research Center quiz designed to test the average US Internet user’s knowledge of modern technology. As part of an ongoing series commemorating the Web’s 25th anniversary, Pew recruited just over 1,000 adults and asked each 17 questions covering a range of tech-related issues, including major advanced, important industry figures, and the Internet’s infrastructure.
“Substantial majorities of internet users are able to correctly answer questions about some common technology platforms and everyday internet usage terms,” explained Pew senior researcher Aaron Smith. “A substantial majority of online adults do not use Twitter, but knowledge of Twitter conventions is fairly widespread nonetheless… On the other hand, relatively few internet users are familiar with certain concepts that underpin the internet and other modern technological advances.”
For instance, 82 percent of online Americans knew that hashtags were most commonly used on the microblogging platform, and 60 percent knew that Twitter limits users posts to 140 characters. Conversely, only one-third (34 percent) knew that Moore’s Law relates to the number of transistors that can be put on a microchip, and just 23 percent knew that “the Internet” and “the World Wide Web” are not two different terms for the same thing.
According to Elizabeth Weise of USA Today, 83 percent of the people who responded to the poll could identify Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates on sight. In addition, 69 percent knew that the term URL stood for Uniform Resource Locator, and 61 percent knew that Net Neutrality referred to equal treatment of digital content by ISPs.
“While it’s easy to assume that the younger generation has technology down pat, you may be surprised to find out that 18- to 29-year-olds often scored similarly to their older counterparts,” PC Magazine’s Stephanie Mlot said. On the other hand, there was a larger divide when it came to education levels, as Smith told Mlot that college graduate tend to score higher on Pew quizzes, this one included.
“Net neutrality and privacy policy understanding was pretty consistent, though younger internet users did show more familiarity with social media and things like hashtags,” added Chris Davies of SlashGear. “With issues like privacy and data protection so timely, and yet comprehension of what’s actually at stake so generally low, it comes as only a mild shock that some of the things we’d take for granted aren’t, in fact, commonly understood.”
The Pew Research quiz also found that 77 percent of responders knew that any email program could be used to send a PDF file, 66 percent knew that a Wiki was a tool which allows people to modify online content in collaboration with other users, and just 44 percent understood that a privacy policy does not ensure a company will keep your information confidential. Only nine percent knew that Mosaic was the first popular graphical Web browser.
Pop on over to Pew’s website and test your own Web IQ by taking the interactive knowledge quiz.
—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.
Comments