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Do Internet browsers correlate with the intelligence of users? An analysis in Canada claimed that Internet Explorer (IE) users tend to have a lower intelligence quotient (IQ) than users of other browsers. If true, it would be unpleasant news for Koreans as they boast the highest ratio of IE users in the world.
“It has been suggested that individuals on the lower end of the IQ scale tend to keep using outdated versions of antique web browsers,” AptiQuant, a psychometric consulting company in Canada, said in a report titled “Intelligence Quotient and Browser Usage.” To verify the suggestion, it gave an IQ test to over 100,000 online users, most of whom visited the company website from search engines to take an IQ test.
“A significant number of individuals with a low score on the cognitive test were found to use Microsoft IE versions 6.0 to 9.0,” it said.
Those using IE version 6.0 scored a little higher than 80, followed by IE version 7.0 users. The average IQ of IE users, regardless of version, was below 100. Those using other web browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Safari, meanwhile, scored between 100 and 120. The IQ of those using Chrome Frame, Camino and Opera averaged over 120, with Opera users scoring the highest.
The company also compared the results to a previous study from 2006, where users of IE got significantly higher IQ scores than the current IE users. “The comparison clearly suggests that more people on the higher side of IQ scale have moved away from IE in the last 5 years,” it added.
Koreans sticking to IE
The analysis, though it was done only with people from English-speaking countries, is irritating for people here. According to June statistics by Statcounter, 92.55 percent of Internet users here stick to IE, which compares with 43.58 percent globally. Chrome users take up only 4.19 percent while one out of five people have chosen the browser by Google globally. The ratio of Firefox users stands at 2.2 percent, far below the global 28.34 percent. Safari users account for less than 1 percent and other browsers and negligible here.
Even worse, many IE users continue to use the outdated version — 17.72 percent using version 6.0 and 17.95 percent 7.0.
Experts cite a host of reasons for this.
An Internet analyst said that the wrong government policy explains why a host of people in Korea stick to IE. “The financial regulator had forced the use of public-key certificate and security programs, and the industry rendered Active X, which functions only on IE browsers, as the easiest way to satisfy the demand. Active X has dominated Internet banking and shopping for a decade, and it is almost impossible to do anything online on a different browser,” he said.
According to Microsoft Korea, some people aren’t upgrading the browser as their Windows XP is an illegal copy and are not entitled to many of the upgrades. Microsoft is the biggest victim of rampant piracy here.
In a loud wakeup call the government now renders a low version of browsers as a problem. IE 6.0 lacks web compatibility, with some popular sites suspending support. It is also vulnerable to viruses as the security patch doesn’t upgrade automatically.
“IE 6.0 was launched in August 2001, and will mark its 10th anniversary. It is old, but it is still used extensively in Korea, exposing users to many problems,” the Korea Communications Commission announced on July 13, starting a campaign to encourage the use of diversified and upgraded browsers.
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