I am now in my ninth decade of life and surfing the internet for answers is harder than it was when younger.
It's not you. "Surfing the Internet" amounts to surfing a turbulent cesspit of scams, and browsers have become a target-rich playground for hackers. Those threats are accelerating. One day, hopefully soon, we will have no use for browsers as such, if for no other reason than that.
So I confess to trying a potentially easier way to get information I want/need.
Understandable. Search engines provide one way to get information, but like any tool you have to know how to use them. DuckDuckGo (for example) is specifically designed to avoid harvesting personal information, but that's only one of many privacy-centric concerns. You also have to be aware that the "information" you're seeking may be wrong, or intentionally designed to deceive and shape what you think. That's no secret. There is no substitute for your own intuition and discernment.
As for browsers, Brave (for example) incorporates its own proprietary Search Engine. There are other options. As for Google, no one should use it. They are guilty (literally guilty, as in adjudicated by courts of law) of violating privacy laws contrary to their own terms of use. The monetary fines imposed are insignificant to the revenue they collect from continuing to sell its users as products. You don't have to participate.
But that's drifting off course from your original concern. Privacy and security are subjects with broad connotations. Privacy - Control - Apple is a good place to start. Follow up with Personal safety overview - Apple Support.
