PHILADELPHIA–While digital literacy is widely seen as an essential skill, a new report from Pew Research Center has found Americans’ understanding of digital topics “varies notably” depending on the subject.
“For example, majorities of U.S. adults know what cookies on websites do and can identify a secure password. Far fewer can recognize an example of two-factor authentication – a cybersecurity practice that makes signing into online accounts more secure,” Pew Research Center said in releasing its findings.
In addition, Pew Research Center said it found a much larger share of Americans know Elon Musk was running Tesla and Twitter (now X) in April 2023 than understand the technology behind ChatGPT.
“Overall, Americans answer a median of five out of nine questions correctly on a digital knowledge survey that Pew Research Center conducted among 5,101 U.S. adults from May 15 to May 21, 2023,” the organization said. “The questions span a range of topics, including cybersecurity practices, facts about major technology companies, artificial intelligence and federal online privacy laws.”
The Findings
Among the findings, according to Pew Research Center:
- Some 26% of U.S. adults can answer at least seven of the nine questions accurately, but just 4% can correctly answer all nine. And as was the case in past digital knowledge surveys by the Center, the public’s understanding of digital issues differs by age and educational attainment
- 87% of U.S adults can correctly identify which password – out of four choices – is the most secure option
- 67% know that the purpose of cookies is to track visits and activity on a website
- 48% can correctly identify an example of two-factor authentication from a series of pictures.
- 77% know Facebook changed its company name to Meta
- 42% know a deepfake is a seemingly real image, video or audio of something that didn’t occur
- 32% know large language models, such as ChatGPT, produce answers based on word patterns and relationships they previously learned from text pulled from the internet.
Privacy & Federal Law
In addition, Pew Research Center said it found:
- 23% know the United States lacks a national privacy law that sets common standards for what companies can do with all of the data their products and services collect
- 21% know websites in the U.S. are prohibited from collecting personal data from minors under 13
- “Still, Americans acknowledge they don’t know the answers to some of these questions,” Pew said. “When it comes to artificial intelligence, similar shares say they’re not sure how large language models work (53%) or what a deepfake is (50%)”
- Pew said it also found uncertainty is also common when it comes to privacy laws: 52% of adults aren’t sure if the U.S. has a national online privacy law. And 40% aren’t sure about the age under which minors are protected from websites collecting their data without parental consent.
Additional Details & a Quiz
The full analysis can be found here.
And if you’re interested in testing your own knowledge, Pew Research Center is offering a quiz here.
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