Using a search engine is now only second to email as the most popular online activity.
American research by The Pew Internet & American Life Project and comScore Media Metrix established that in during a typical September day approximately 59 million people (41% of internet users) used a search engine.
I have also heard that 75 percent of online journeys start with a search engine.
If you have a teenager it seems to me that there is a fruitful career looming in search engine optimisation. Forget sending him or her to the city, the new fronteer is opening and experts in search engine marketing will be in short supply.