STUDY: Internet Explorer Users Are Dumber

[douglas9]

A research firm posted an IQ test on its Web site and then compiled the results from more than 100,000 users.

It found that there was no substantial difference between users of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

But Internet Explorer users had IQs below average.

That's a switch from five years ago, when IQs were more or less the same across all browsers.

The company, Aptiquant, bills itself as a "psychometric consultant." Its main business is creating tests to help businesses hire well.

Now before all you Opera users get too satisfied with yourselves, there are lots of possible reasons why IE users scored so low:


http://www.businessinsider.com/study-internet-explorer-users-are-dumber-2011-7

[surrealAmerican]

1. Funny, but ...

... there is a possibility that the authors did not consider: could internet explorer be actively lowering the IQs of its users?

I know I feel less intelligent after using it .....

[RedCloud]

2. And they attract lots of viruses!

[RebelOne]

10. Get a Mac! Very little chance of viruses.

I use Safari with a Mac Mini.

[Enrique]

3. does that mean you'd have to be an idiot to use IE?

or an imbecile or a moron?

[petronius]

4. Considering how widespread IE is in businesses and institutions, this does

not seem like a wise move for Aptiquant... :shrug:

[whistler162]

5. Not published but the "scientists" where using IE4 to

check the results!

[hyphenate]

7. I wouldn't doubt that

But perhaps they were still using Netscape Navigator, one of my favorites!!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. !

:rofl:

[hyphenate]

6. I've been using IE for 18 years

I've used Chrome, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, Opera as well.

I like the integration of my toolbars on IE--they all lock in properly and comprise three bars across the top, with the status bar on the bottom.

I like my Google bar the most. I can search from it, go to my favorite sites from it, and never have to find something when I look for it.

If that makes me somehow dumber, so be it. However, my IQ in HS was 147, which isn't shabby.

I don't think it makes most people dumber, I just think that people want to fulfill a certain orderliness when they are online, and different browsers are simply their preference. I do think that people who aren't into the technical end of computers in general will likely settle for whatever browser they are introduced to, which usually means IE. There are definitely exceptions to the rules, and I count myself among those exceptions.

[CBGLuthier]

8. I thought IE 1.0 was part of Windows 95

which came out 16 years ago this August. I can't even imagine what a browser on windows 3.1 would have been like :-)

I remember being forced to program for it in 97 I think it was. Whenever they added javascript.

Either way this is a silly "survey" that is skewed by way too many factors to have any meaning at all.

[hyphenate]

9. I remember there was no web in 1988

when I first got online. It was simply a test GUI. Compuserve was my first online browser, and I had to quit after a couple of months because the charges were too high to pay: one month alone was %57. Then there was Prodigy, and while it guaranteed a better online experience, it was slower than cold molasses. When AOL came out, I grabbed it. and used its browser, which was essentially the first Explorer lookalike. When we could have two apps open and working at the same time, I used AOL to access the web, and IE to surf it. I eventually left AOL, but still use my AOL account main email, since I've used it now since 1991.

Back then, BBS were the main form of communication, but when AOL started, there were new forums and community groups to spend time on--though AOL was pretty conservative way back when and I eventually dropped them, too.