The use of SETI and the question of 'if aliens are trying to contact us as well, are they using the same method?'

The Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been occurring since the late 1800s. In as early as 1896, Nikola Tesla used his new wireless electrical transmission system to try to contact "beings" on Mars. This is basically how it all started in terms of the search. Even though his search failed, his curiosity using the radio technology has expanded the search greatly in the last 100 years. We now have radio telescopes all over the world that are beaming at hundreds of thousands of stars searching for radio signals that could be coming from an intelligent life-form. Radio signals penetrate the Earth's atmosphere very well, which means that we can beam those signals very far out into space and receive signals from very far away as well. This is why they believe it to be the most effective method in searching for intelligent life in the cosmos.

Now, the only thing that we do not know in the hunt for intelligent life is that if an intelligent civilization that is looking to make contact is using the same technology or not. It could be possible that other potential life-forms out there are using a different kind of technology to send messages that we have not discovered yet. This poses a problem because we could be looking right through potential habitable planets with intelligent life. However, many scientists believe that since they would be governed by the same principles (laws of physics), they should be utilizing radio waves as a means of long distance communication as it is very effective at long distances. The search continues and we will not be giving up anytime soon. However, I just hope that if we do make contact, it is not us giving away our location to a violent civilization that is way more advanced than we are (see movie Independence Day).