Diffusion Theory

The Pager

The pager caught on because it was a device that was easy to communicate and allowed everyone to send information at a fast pace. While the pager itself was very popular in the beginning it was popular among the early adopters. Early adopters are more likely to adopt innovations due to the need for communication and have a high level of leadership. Which were doctors, medics, people in the medical fields, firemen, and policemen. They adopted it so fast because it allowed them to communicate with one another effectively, and timely in order to save lives, and give critical information. 

Late adopters to the pager were basically everyone else in the world. Everyone adapted the pager later on due to the fact that it was only available for essitenial personnel. Also, the pager was delayed for people to adopt it because partially accessibility but when it was available they saw the success that it had in medical practice. Late adopters found it useful and extremely effective since it allowed you to share information quickly in order for people to call on another. This allowed for a massive spread of communication. Those who decided to opt out were most likely because they just didn't want to use a pager and found it difficult to use.

The pager had a couple of downsides which allowed for the laggard group to be left behind. Which were the fact that you could only share small amounts of information, the fact that you cant respond easily to others, and it wasn't very versatile. Also, some pagers run on replaceable batteries, which will cost more money over time. The diffusion theory talks about how laggards are many those who can financially afford the innovation, so the added cost does make it less appealing to others. All of these downsides provide crucial evidence as to why the pager may have been popular for a little while but was overall why it was replaced by smartphones. People want to make decisions that are easier and more cost-efficient and the pager made it slightly difficult, so in order to be more efficient people we ton to the next innovation. The negative in this case does not outweigh the negative as something so small as not sending enough information could kill someone, or cost someone their job. When choosing between the pager and the cellphone the cost-benefit analysis shows that you can send more information, talk to people fast, and do everything at the same time. In turn, making everything easier and more effective in everyone's life.