ExpanDrive

Do you even know what one is? If you’re reading this, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you do. But according to a highly-informal Google poll conducted this April, fewer than 8% of Times Square bystanders knew what a web browser was.

As painful as this is to watch, it goes quite a way toward explaining why each morning, I wake up to an inbox full of multi-millionaire Nigerians and pills offering an “xtra 2 !n¢hes of grith” [sic].

Don’t get me wrong, the answers in this video aren’t universally off—two guys interviewed pretty much nail it, and even the big dude who claims to be “not a computer guy” knew the “blue e explorer” was his browser. As a whole, I’d say they’re more tech savvy than Orin Hatch, but somewhere behind Ted Stevens.

If this poll is reflective of the general population, it brings up all sorts of interesting points. Number one is that the internet must be pretty freakin’ safe—either that, or not enough skilled individuals have been shunted into the identity theft industry. I’d also say the fact that people like this use the Internet and still have assets is a pretty big win for public-key cryptography.

Another point this brings up licensing. Would someone so ignorant of the rules of the road work be allowed to drive? Or so ignorant of firearm safety be allowed to own a gun? Granted, the immediate consequences of poor driving/gun use are more dire, but the economic impact of botnets, spam, phishing schemes and other fraud largely dependent on ignorant users shouldn’t be underestimated.

Finally, this video levels a pretty serious indictment against Americans—or at least Americans who wonder aimlessly around Times Square on a weekday. We’re too used to looking at things as if they were magic boxes. If the box breaks, take it to a magician, give him some money, he does some magic, and it works again. Certainly, ads with identity thieves climbing around inside your computer do nothing to dispel that myth.

I say the problem is cultural because this is long how Americans have dealt with that other indispensible possession, the automobile. Sure, most people know how to drive a car, but if I asked 50 people on the street what a catalytic converter was, I’m not sure I’d have a much higher success rate than Google did.

But considering the growing impact general computer awareness (note that I did not say “computer skills”) has on universally important things like getting a job—as a story from today’s Morning Edition higlights—I just don’t think this level of ignorance is sustainable. The inability to change an oil filter will have no impact at most offices, but the inability to recognize a virus-laced email almost invariably will.

General skills like the difference between a browser and a search engine, or between a file attachment and a virus, are the sort of basic knowledge that people should be taught early on in schools. If this video survey is any indication, treating the PC like a glorified typewriter for the past 20 years hasn’t done a whole lot in the way of education.