Are you an early or late adopter?

[+ SundayZip]

Different people adopt new technology and new technology enabled ways of doing things quickly. Others wait. Think of innovations like the cell phone, tablet computer, smart phone, smart watch, e-books, fitbit, online bill pay, paypal, boarding pass on your cell phone, etc, etc...

 

Where are you on this technology adoption chart?

 

 

http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/FacultyPages/PamMack/lec323/innovation-diffusion.png

 

I'm probably in the "early majority" group. Once others have worked the kinks out of new technology, I'll jump on. But I'm eager to try sooner as opposed to later.

[tyro]

Late majority.

T

[Rudynate]

Late majority.

T

 

 

+1

[maninsoma]

I am probably a late early adopter. In other words, I'm closer to the early majority range of early adopters than the innovators group.

[+ sync]

Early majority. That was not always the case. Over time I have become more comfortable with technology.

[+ Archer]

Definitely a laggard. I still have a VCR.

[rvwnsd]

Depending on the technology, I am either an early adopter or early majority.

[+ quoththeraven]

It depends. I'm a miser and hate change, so on some things I'm a laggard (use of home PCs, operating systems (Windows 7), switching from PC to laptop/tablets -- I still don't own a laptop). On others, where it's a matter of convenience. I'm not (like online banking/retail).

 

Semi-relevant: We had a black and white TV growing up because my chemical engineer father felt the technology hadn't improved enough to be worth the transition to color. I didn't have a TV while in college, and the first color TV I had access to was probably the one I "acquired" with marriage.

[+ azdr0710]

toward the laggard side of late majority, I guess.....

 

1997: first computer

2004 : first flip phone (still have)

2011: first digital camera (still have)

2012: first flat screen TV and DVD player (still have)

 

do not have a smart phone or laptop yet - I fear the learning of it....

[+ Charlie]

It depends. I bought a Macintosh computer when they first came out, but I kept it for almost twenty years. I still use a simple HP printer that I bought in the 20th century. I got a cell phone when they first came out, but didn't upgrade it for many years, and I still have only a simple flip phone, not a smart phone, and I use it only when I am away from home. The older I get, the more of a laggard I become. I didn't go on the Internet till 1999, didn't buy a digital camera until they were already old fashioned (I don't know how to take a photo with my phone or iPad). I never owned a VCR and don't have a DVD. I got cable TV as soon as I could, but have never progressed beyond that. I bought an iPad a couple of years ago, but I use it only for email, Safari and three apps. I still read books and newspapers on paper, not on a Kindle. I prefer to go to live performances of music, and the only other kind I listen to is on CDs or the radio. I read printed maps rather than use a GPS. I want to drive a car with buttons and knobs, not a touch screen.

 

My problem with most technology is that it is too complicated to remember how to do things, if I don't do them every day. I finally tried to put contact numbers on my cellphone last week, and had a terrible time trying to figure out how to do it, then couldn't remember how to use them when I wanted to.

[Lankypeters]

Maturity, at best.

 

At the risk of hijacking this thread, I want to pick up on my friend "Charlie's" closing point about the difficulty of dealing with, not to say mastering, the various technologies. These tasks become more difficult every day, so it seems, especially as one becomes more "mature," (that's another arc to deal with) and the grasp of new information and concepts takes more time -- if the knowledge can be even understood. Uploading, downloading, streaming, air dropping, imaging -- my laptop, my new camera, my iPad, my iPhone, my BOSE 3-2-1 (online assistance says this one is their easiest to operate. HA!). And on and on. Can't I just turn a knob? (Is he on Rentboy?) A friend my age says she's about to draw the line with technology. I empathize completely. But if I stop...... then what? I remember when my grandfather couldn't operate the new fangled salt and pepper shakers we bought because you didn't shake them, you pressed a button at the top of the shaker. We explained and explained. He sat there stumped. Now what buttons do I push to add a Blu-ray player to my BOSE system? Or is it Bluray? Or Blu-Ray? Beulah, wind up the Victrola and peel gramps a grape.

[N13]

I am all of the above. Had a personal computer back in the 80's, have the latest in blu ray players and a real projection system with a huge screen for my tv and movies, but hold fast to my flip phone. Hate seeing people constantly interacting with their i-phones rather than conversing liking civilized human beings. HATE texting, tweeting and think that social media is killing interpersonal relationships! As I said, all of the above.

[+ purplekow]

I open a completely paperless medical office with a electronic medical record I designed with a computer company, an innovator that. It was in 1992 and was one of the first in the country with that. I had a desk top computer in 1982, did Fantasy Baseball statistics in 1983 so was an early adapter to both Fantasy sports and doing those statistics on computer. So in that regard, I am an early adapter but I know very little about computers, I can not do simple apps on my cell phone and I had a flip phone from 1991, early I think until 2007, the same one in fact, so I was a adapter young and grow old with it. And as we all know, I <shudder>, use checks.

[corndog]

Well, let's see... I stood in line the first day the original iPhone came out to get one, and more recently got up at 2am so I could be among the first to order my Apple Watch. That probably means that I'm at least an Early Adopter.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

I'm a laggard - - tend to wait out as long as my current device is working.

[AdamSmith]

My work is researching and reporting the experiences of innovators and early adopters, which has reinforced my habit of being part of the late majority or laggards.

 

I also love Gartner's Technology Hype Cycle:

 

 

Here's how they mapped the overall technology landscape a year ago:

 

http://www.mediabuzz.com.sg/images/stories/asian_e_marketing/2015_01/Gartner.png

[dannyboynyc]

It depends. I bought a Macintosh computer when they first came out, but I kept it for almost twenty years. I still use a simple HP printer that I bought in the 20th century. I got a cell phone when they first came out, but didn't upgrade it for many years, and I still have only a simple flip phone, not a smart phone, and I use it only when I am away from home. The older I get, the more of a laggard I become. I didn't go on the Internet till 1999, didn't buy a digital camera until they were already old fashioned (I don't know how to take a photo with my phone or iPad). I never owned a VCR and don't have a DVD. I got cable TV as soon as I could, but have never progressed beyond that. I bought an iPad a couple of years ago, but I use it only for email, Safari and three apps. I still read books and newspapers on paper, not on a Kindle. I prefer to go to live performances of music, and the only other kind I listen to is on CDs or the radio. I read printed maps rather than use a GPS. I want to drive a car with buttons and knobs, not a touch screen.

 

My problem with most technology is that it is too complicated to remember how to do things, if I don't do them every day. I finally tried to put contact numbers on my cellphone last week, and had a terrible time trying to figure out how to do it, then couldn't remember how to use them when I wanted to.

 

My Mother does medical transcription typing at home. Part of the process is printing reports on index cards. All the printers I've purchased have almost been exclusively HP. At one time when a new printer was needed, I purchased another HP. It kept failing due to the index card printing. I got a replacement under warranty - same thing. I dug out an older printer that was in the attic - it's worked for years.

 

Recently at work HP LaserJet printers were replaced because of a new printing system. In a former job, I purchased the same model printer - sometime prior to 1994. The printers were replaced due to a printing system - not because they were not operational.

 

There are advantages to holding on to technology (if possible) this is old . . .

[+ SundayZip]

I also love Gartner's Technology Hype Cycle:

 

Adam, Adam! You're the Man! (do you suppose we've ever walked past each other at a Gartner conference?)

 

I wonder if some technology enabled companies like Uber are about to slide into the Trough of Disillusionment? It would certainly make sense until some of the legal and other challenges are worked out and they climb back toward the Plateau of Productivity.

[AdamSmith]

Adam, Adam! You're the Man! (do you suppose we've ever walked past each other at a Gartner conference?)

 

I wonder if some technology enabled companies like Uber are about to slide into the Trough of Disillusionment? It would certainly make sense until some of the legal and other challenges are worked out and they climb back toward the Plateau of Productivity.

 

Highly likely the Sharing Economies tech group is right where you say.

 

Never been to a Gartner conference, on account of always having been a direct competitor to Gartner. Originally working for, now owning/operating, much smaller, niche tech research firms that compete with tiny slivers of Gartner and IDC.

[+ SundayZip]

My Mother does medical transcription typing at home. Part of the process is printing reports on index cards. All the printers I've purchased have almost been exclusively HP. At one time when a new printer was needed, I purchased another HP. It kept failing due to the index card printing. I got a replacement under warranty - same thing. I dug out an older printer that was in the attic - it's worked for years.

 

Recently at work HP LaserJet printers were replaced because of a new printing system. In a former job, I purchased the same model printer - sometime prior to 1994. The printers were replaced due to a printing system - not because they were not operational.

 

There are advantages to holding on to technology (if possible) this is old . . .

 

Looking at the Technology Hype Cycle posted by AdamSmith, that old HP printer reached the Plateau of Productivity long ago and has stayed there. Tell that to your Mother. She'll be happy to hear it.

[AdamSmith]

that old HP printer reached the Plateau of Productivity long ago and has stayed there.

 

Shown by the fact that, little over a decade ago, fully 50% of HP's profits (can't recall whether operating profit or net income) were from laserjet toner cartridges.

[tedbear]

I'm early majority and would be an early adopter, but I'm too practical to do so. I've learned over the years to let others find the bugs and to wait for the initial price drops.

[+ Charlie]

My printer is an HP DeskJet 812C. It has never malfunctioned, but it is getting harder to find the ink cartridges.

[Lookin]

Started out as an early adopter. I cobbled together a telephone from spare parts and a shoe box when I was nine or so, bought my first computer in 1980, and got onto the internet before there was a Daddy's, just to see what was out there. Innovators were ahead of me, but not by light years.

 

These days, I'm still interested in technology when it's fairly new but the interest is a lot lower than it used to be. Though I have a smartphone, I have never asked it to do much more than answer a call or wake me for lunch. http://apechesnoy.free.fr/v1/plugins/iconeframe/2/icon.gif You'd have to pay me to start texting and, if I could not only avoid tweeting but make sure everybody else does also, I would.

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RDJ2bhdHsHs/TzaKFsLvsvI/AAAAAAAAAxY/1FbqC9iZUYM/s1600/epan-520x511.jpg

 

If there's one technology I think might bring me back to my early adopter days, it's virtual reality. The first headset that lets me do a 360 Ralph Woods wraparound, I'll innovate the hell out of. http://s4.rimg.info/6e2c8cde030977ec9bf97e946bc6fafa.gif

 

[AdamSmith]

Yes! Teledildonics will make me an Innovator. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teledildonics

 

http://arst349.blogs.bucknell.edu/files/2015/03/qqe688aae59bbe20131126134045.png

 

http://arst349.blogs.bucknell.edu/files/2015/03/fundawear-ep.jpg