Blog #9- Diffusion Theory

    The diffusion theory focuses on how fast, how, and why new technology and ideas spread. While looking at this theory, we must consider five important factors regarding how the diffusion theory properly works. A professor of communication, Everett Rogers, states the five factors are the innovation itself, communication channels, time, a proper social system and adopters of the idea or invention as a whole. The pager is an invention that has rapid growth throughout the years but also grew in popularity and usage. The pager caught on so quickly in society due to its efficiency and a way to make things easier. The pager allowed for messages to be conveyed in a much more convenient way than before. When it comes to new technical inventions, people can adopt the invention into their lives at different speeds or paces with some being early adopters and some being later on. Two important characteristics to docs on when it comes to adopting a new invention are motivation and ability. Figuring out why people need this item and how it will benefit their family life to make it easier can determine how quickly and efficiently your product is going to be. When it comes to the pager, people could communicate with each other without the need to be face to face with them.

    People who adopted pagers early on were most likely looking for easier, more convenient ways to communicate and were willing and able to learn how to use the new product and the good that comes out of it. People may have become late adopters because they may have not known how to use the pager or felt that it had no usage for them personally. Depending on what generation you were a part of, people in society may have adopted quicker than others how to use it and how it will benefit them in their life. When we compare Pagers to the technology we have today, we can see the negatives such as the fact they only connect to one channel at a time. However, at the time the pager was a highly successful and useful way to connect to people. I also see the age being a gateway towards the new addictive technology we have today. Quick forms of communication such as telephones and cell phones were established as a form of communicating digitally at a faster pace than original inventions created before it. The pager allowed us to advance our communication technology which as a whole has had a substantial impact on our society both positive and negative.

    Overall, I’d say that the pager was a positive addition to society because it was one of the first times people could communicate through a channel without needing to be in person. It was also great for police stations when it was first invented which gave communication for keeping communities safe more effective. Although pagers have over time faded out from being a popular new invention, they still can be used when communicating especially seen in hospitals and health care settings, and this invention allowed society to have an easier and technology-based way to communicate. This invention also led to more inventions that make our society the way it is today. Through the lens of the diffusion theory, we can see and study the way people picked up on this invention and how it forever changed and shaped their life in different ways.