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  • Pew Research: You know the internet, but you might not 'get' it

    by 
    Timothy J. Seppala
    Timothy J. Seppala
    11.25.2014

    Given how ubiquitous smart devices are, one might think that, overall, people would have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of tech. That isn't exactly the case. According to a recent Pew Research survey, 60 percent of the representative sample knew that tweets are limited to 140 characters, but only 42 percent knew that Harvard is where Facebook originated. And despite how much new iPhone announcements dominate the news cycle, only some 36 percent correctly picked 2007 as the year Apple unveiled its first smartphone. Even fewer were able to accurately identify the first "widely popular graphical web browser." Hint: it wasn't Netscape Navigator. As The Washington Post points out, a vast majority of people happen to think that "World Wide Web" and "internet" are interchangeable too.