Week 10: Diffusion of Innovations

   

        Throughout history, thousands of innovations have come and gone. Whether they be physical of ideological, there appears to be a trend concerning how society as a whole takes on to them. This is explained through Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovations theory.  The theory argues that there are always early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. I think an especially good example of this theory given recent times, is the innovation of video games and gaming systems. From the classic Atari to the modern PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The Atari and NES originally sold very well because they were marketed as a product for the whole family to enjoy and play together. However, while there are still many family friendly party games, gaming has moved more towards solo play, or online if it is multiplayer. Regardless though, most people in the modern world have accepted this technology as part of their lives, and many have even made it their whole lives as career on sites like YouTube and Twitch or even developing and critiquing games. Now, there are some people are still not too keen on using/accepting this technology. There is still some stigma against video games, because some believe that playing videogames is nothing but a waste of time and causes violence. Both of these are untrue and the benefit highly outweighs the cost (maybe not literally because the new consoles are very expensive). Gaming systems offer endless hours of entertainment, can connect people across the world through these games, improves reaction times, teaches time/resource management, teaches actual morales in some games, and there is no evidence that playing video games causes violence in real life. The majority of people who have not accepted this technology are older and still think of gaming systems with that previously mentioned stigma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations