Net Elementary

Response to article,
"Survey: Searchers are Confident, Satisfied & Clueless" by Chris Sherman,
Jan.24, 2005

Deborah Fallows (Senior Research Fellow at the Pew Internet & American Life Project)stated that "Most users are still in elementary school with where they are about using the internet and search engines. As they grow up it will dawn on them to try different search engines, not just the one of convenience or habit."
I thought this was a great analogy for what is going on with people's experiences with search engines. Most people don't seem to bother to try to find other way to experience the Net than the old tried-and-true. They just continue using the Net as they were first taught, rarely feeling the need to surpass that first intiated knowledge. I can relate since I was the same way not too many years ago, when I first really started using the Internet regularly. I would always use the same search engine and I would trust that I was finding what I was looking for as well as the validity of the information I was coming across. No one ever told me differently. Gradually as I began using the Net more and especially as the information I was searching for was of more consequence (from emails and games to research projects and trustworthy news) I saw how limited my first experiences truly were. I feel like maybe I have reached the cusp of middle school at this point and am looking forward to elevating to the next level.