Download Personal Experience with Email Adoption and the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and more Papers Communication in PDF only on Docsity! Annie Laurie Cadmus February 10, 2005 A-3 Adoption Process I was sitting in my seventh grade social studies classroom the first time I heard of the Internet. Anxious about the upcoming exam, I was angry at my teacher for stalling by asking the class about this crazy idea he called the Word Wide Web. I thought he was frivolous for grasping on to any new computer program that was up for sale and I chose not to join the bandwagon of intrigued students. I turned my nose up at the idea and then down into my study guide. Despite my stubbornness, four years later, I sat at my parent’s computer and signed up for my first e-mail address; a poorly misspelled announcement of my adolescent personality combined proudly with my birth year. My understanding of e-mail quickly progressed as I adopted its functions into my daily routine. In order to better understand the Adoption Process inherent in the Diffusion of Innovations Theory, it is important to first outline my personal experience of communication technology adoption before applying it to the Adoption Process and drawing some critical conclusions regarding the model itself. With six years of e-mail technique under my belt, I now proudly admit that I am completely addicted to this form of communication technology. I am constantly finding myself grateful for the ease of communication provided by e-mail. Whether a professional request for a job interview or a quick hello to a good friend, I can sit in the comfort of my bedroom or office and send an appropriate greeting via the Internet. I am intrigued with the way in which e-mail has shaped my daily interactions. I have avoided my fair share of ominous confrontations by simply typing up my emotions and sending them electronically. I chuckle at the number of people I know who have officially declared their love for one another through the magic of instant messaging and e-mail and I know that I, too, would have a much tamer social life if it weren’t for the courage gained by hiding my face behind a computer screen. As I quickly adapted my daily life to the convenience of e-mail, I discovered the simplicity of maintaining contacts with friends and family when I went away to college. By simply attaching a picture to my e-mail, my mother felt a little more comforted by my absence from her home. Once I began to use my e-mail account with a little more complexity (creating multiple folders, providing it to soliciting websites and opening dozens of attachments a day), I discovered the need for multiple e-mail addresses. Soon, all facets of my life were properly represented with coordinated e-mail addresses. I had my professional and personal lives so neatly categorized into these abstract addresses that the only mental work I really had to do was remember my passwords accordingly. With this synopsis of my individual adoption of electronic mail, it is necessary to apply the methodology of the Adoption Process to my own personal experience. As outlined by Everett Rogers, this process includes five basic tenets, or attributes (with a sixth described by Dr. Patrick O’Sullivan); relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, reliability, observability and familiarity. First, the relative advantage of e-mail did not initially appeal to me. I felt as though my communicative modes of telephone, letter writing and interpersonal conversations were more than adequate. However, as the innovation quickly caught on around me, I discovered that I was losing out on a completely different world of communication. As an insecure adolescent, I certainly saw an advantage to being
