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People Who Use IE Have Lower IQ’s
A recent study has been proven to link intelligence to browser usage, and the results are looking bleak for users of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, more so user of the older versions.
The recent study titled “Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage” by a Canadian company AptiQuant, samples IQ test scores of 101,326 individual over the age of 16 and divided them into groups according to browser usage.
The final results we fascinating. It showed user of the outdated Internet Exploere 6 to have an average IQ score of barely more than 80; Chrome & Firefox user ranked far better with an average IQ of around 110, while Opera & Camino users ranked the highest with an average IQ more than 120. What’s also interesting was that the average IQ scores of IE6 users we significantly higher in 2006, and that IQ scores get better with newer versions of IE.
Internet Explorer 6 has long been the black sheep of browsers for developers who demise it for it’s non-compliance with web standard, while users have struggles with its many security flaws. This new study will probably induce more mockery of the ancient (but still sometimes found on older computers) browser and its users, but it’s probably not telling us that much about the browser itself — it’s about unwillingness to upgrade to a new version of any software.
The study revealed that “individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers.” It’s only logical that users who have higher IQ’s are more likely to experiment, choose a different software version or variant (notice that users of IE with Chrome frame score very high on IQ tests) or listen to upgrade suggestions and security advice.
In March, Microsoft started a campaign to get users to stop using Internet Explorer 6. But did it take into account the fact that many IE6 users tend to have lower than average IQ scores? Maybe that’s the key to finally getting rid of the world’s most hated web browser. “Individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers. … Now that we have a statistical pattern on the continuous usage of incompatible browsers, better steps can be taken to eradicate this nuisance,” the study concludes.
Mike on the August 4th, 2011
This study seems a key demographic of IE’s user base: servers, where the default browser is often just left alone and seldom used, and network accounts, where IE is the enforced default and alternatives are restricted by policies.
Other than that, spot on, though I think AOL users are even lower…
Mike on the August 4th, 2011
Seems to forget*
Apologies, I’m posting from a mobile device.