They should not, but when it comes to all things related to cybersecurity, the average user is vulnerable to panic due to the Ignorance Tax.
A lot of those testers are data point. Some are pure entertainment. An exception is Leo. He is not popular here because he does not make videos that a lot of MT members find acceptable. The reason is that they are not at his level nor his approach to Microsoft Defender. Even though he is more than capable of performing methodical, carefully documented and explained testing, that is not his objective. He takes the approach of an average Windows user that does not understand or know Microsoft Defender beyond the basics. Leo is one of those professional testers who is not going to explain in-detail what is being done in the video. He expects the viewer to either figure it out or to educate themselves to figure it out.
Yes they do.
Some of the people I know have a their primary relationship with a keyboard and their entire social lives are 100% digital. They're the ones that go to Black Hat and the entire time they are on their device. They attend presentations and never look up. Their fingers constantly doing the klackity-klack. Somehow they absorb stuff. I suppose they have that capacity to multi-focus without looking or tuning other things out.
You attended Dartmouth undergrad when tuition & housing during the era of what, ~ $20,000 per year? Not sure if you did a grad school program afterwards or not.
Did you not do the Rhodes Scholar thing, or was it Sorbonne?
As undergrad were you partial aid, no aid, or a merit full-ride scholarship recipient?
Self taught is all about paying the Ignorance Tax with a lot of patience, frustration management, dedication, perseverance, and pounding it out on the keyboard. In a few words, sacrifice and hard work. There's a good bit of neuroticism sprinkled on that process (anyone that completes any degree program has the basic elements of neurotic behaviors - it is not anything derogatory; it is the behaviors that matter and not the labels). You of all people know that entire drill very well.
