New innovations are made every day, whether it is something as big as Netflix or the Internet or something as simple as Bluetooth or headphones, innovation is around us every day. Diffusion of innovation can be defined as a theory that follows a pattern and spreads new ideas, practices, or products spread through a population. The diffusion of Innovation theory was created by a man named E.M Rogers in 1962 and is known for being one of the oldest social science theories ever created. When creating an innovation, there are five different stages to focus on that are used to appeal to the different adopter categories. These are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggers.
To explain this theory, I will use one of the older inventions, but one still highly prominent in our lives today, the telephone. The telephone was created back in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell; little did he know that it would open a whole new door to communication and change the way people act today. Before Alexander invented the telephone, many people used postal service, carrier pigeons, newspapers, and telegraphs to communicate with one another and learn new information going on in the world. Although Alexander was not the first to come up with the idea of communicating with one another via electronic devices, he was the first to truly perfect it.
The invention of the telephone was one of the fastest-spreading inventions ever due to it allowing for much faster, more efficient, and more reliable communication among citizens. Once it was perfected, it became the dominant form of mass communication. Before the telephone was invented, people would wait around for not only hours but days to get a response or learn even to learn about what was going on in the world. Telephones also made it easier for businesses to communicate with one another, significantly cutting down the time it took to send each other messages. Along with this, it allowed businesses to expand their reach and even the possibility of becoming international.
The telephone was not only more efficient, but it was significantly cheaper. With the telegraph, it was unnecessarily expensive to send such a short message to someone far or near, hoping they would receive the message sometime in the next two to four weeks. Although the telephone may have been expensive to purchase, it was much cheaper in the long run due to the consumer being allowed to talk as much, and for however long they wanted at no additional cost.
Although many were early adopters of the telephone, many were hesitant initially; I mean, who would blame them? Before the telephone, there was nothing remotely similar to this. There was even a huge debate shortly after the telephone was released on whether this type of technology could have physical and mental harmful health effects; this debate is still a hot topic for smartphones in today's era. Due to this, there were many late adopters and even, although very rare, some non-adopters.
This year in 2023, it was recorded that about 7.33 Billion smartphone users, also meaning 90.04% of the world's population, own a smartphone or some type of feature phone. Although this number is enormous, about 10% of the population still does not own or use any type of smartphone for feature phones, which means, although rare, there are some non-adopters. Whether this small 10% is concerned with the possible health issues I discussed earlier or they are concerned about their privacy, the possible adverse effects of owning this device clearly outweigh the positive.
Although the telephone has many positive impacts, there are definitely some negative consequences that come along with the telephone. This includes things such as since it is so easy to contact anyone at any desired moment, nowadays, it can cause distracted driving and sometimes even car accidents. It has now been found that telephones now have the possibility of causing stress, anxiety, depression, and even a lack of face-to-face communication. The telephone can cause issues or disrupt learning environments and cause a lack of focus or drive when it comes to your job or school work.
Although there are many possible consequences and even some people who believe you should not use a telephone at all due to the side effects, I believe the telephone changed our world mainly for the better. It created jobs, allowed people to stay in contact with loved ones, and facilitated communication worldwide. Without the telephone, things would be different, and I don't mean different in a good way.
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