That being said DuckDuckGo is definitely getting much better nowadays. Still end up going back to Google after a few days though.
I actually disagree. Googles optimizing function is to get you to visit sites with their ads. Because DuckDuckGo doesn’t have an ad network on every website, their optimization function is to get you to come back to search (where their ads are).
I think people have also missed Google slowly manipulating search results to maximize profit. Their motives are not aligned with people looking for information (at least not any more)
For example, DDG is really good at documentation lookups like Java or Python docs. Google is much better at complicated queries (I always struggle for an example, had one recently where DDG was just lost and Google gave the perfect top result, and remember thinking "I should write this down" but I don't think I did...), so I use DDG by default and if I can't find what I'm looking for, I fall back to Google. I don't have to fall back for ~90% of my queries, so that's a significant improvement over using Google all the time.
DDG is horrible at images, and Google Images beats Bing Images. But again, 90% of my image queries can be answered by Bing, so in only 10% of the cases I fall back to Google for images.
I've kind of found the opposite.
Because Google knows I'm a developer when I search for libraries etc. they're usually at the top.
For example, if I search for 'express' (the NodeJS package) on Google their website is at the bottom of the first page (just below my local newspaper's website, Paisley Express).
On DuckDuckGo it's 1 from the bottom of the second page.
Of course just a single example but you can see where I'm coming from.
I have 0 reason to not use google. I really don't care if they find out my obsession with electronics and that I have the hots for tall girls.
Out of every company, I'd give Google the nod as most helpful company of my lifetime.
Can someone tell me why I'm wrong?
Otherwise... no, I don't think you are. The people who turn out for threads like these are hardly representative. You shouldn't sweat not passing muster with them too much.