Society has changed not only because of technology, but the way we access and make decisions based upon what we see on social media platforms. Although we have unlimited access to everything at our fingertips, the downsides in my opinion often outweighed the positives. I feel depression, suicide, and the increase in censorship over the past decade has led to an even bigger lack of unity.
Diffusion Theory of Innovation was developed by Professor Everett Rogers in 1962 to explain the rate innovations spread throughout society and how these innovations diffuses or grows over time. This theory helps to explain the process by which one innovation can be accepted by society. According to Rogers, the innovation, how it is communicated, the time it is launched and society plays a huge role in the innovations success, along with capital and at some point the innovation becomes self-sustaining. According to the Diffusion Theory of Innovation, there are five stages of the adoption process. In the first stage, a person is introduced to the innovation, but may not know much about it then they become interested in it and want to learn about it. A person then decides to use the innovation or not before using it and lastly, deciding to continue to use it. Rogers also broke society into five groups that follows an S curve growth over time. The innovators are typically the ones that know the ins and outs about everything and take risks. The early adopters are the ones that take less of the risk and listen to the reviews and make sure that the innovation works. The early majorities are the ones are the people that makes sure that there are no bugs in the system and makes the decision to observe others experiences and has real benefits to the product. The late majorities are the ones that are more skeptical and resistant to change and need the product to be more widely spread. The laggards are our “grandma’s and grandpa’s” in which they are the ones that avoid change and avoid the new technology sources until they actually need one. They are not about the latest and greatest and aren’t concerned with social status.
Facebook is one of the greatest innovations that changed the communications world. The social media platform changed the way we communicate and now there are billions of active Facebook users all over the world. Diffusion Theory can help to explain how Facebook became so popular and success spread through society and how it has become a self-sustaining media giant today. Facebook has majorly impacted our society, often manipulating the way we look at the world and ourselves. Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard in 2003, first created a website called Facemash, which gave students a website by which they could rank fellow students on campus based on their appearance. This website was eventually shut down, however, Zuckerberg used this idea of shared photos of students to create what is known today as Facebook, which launched February 4, 2004. Many people in 2004 were actively attached to this new idea of connection through a website and what started as a means of college students to get acquainted soon spread to the high school market followed by their parents and grandparents. Its popularity stemmed from the instant means of connecting with long distant relatives, long lost friends and even partners just by a click of a button.
Facebook helped grow other businesses with new apps and internet connections to allow us to be able to communicate to one another like social media apps Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. The early adapters and early majorities caught onto this new spread of the ability of connectivity. Facebook was already a secured and self-sustaining innovation when other companies tried to buy it, such like Microsoft in 2008. Over time, Facebook gave ways in which businesses can sell their ideas to the people through the app. Not only has Facebook grown businesses, but it has brought families and people together, but all of this success has negatively impacted our society as well and come at a cost.
I recently watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix. One of the best quotes came at the end of the documentary and is so true: “We are in this matrix that we don’t even realize that we are in.” Today, algorithms and experiments out of our control can influence our daily happiness. As Facebook has grown in user popularity, our behaviors, rights, values, freedoms, and attention spans have been affected by this innovation. We are living in a world of manipulation by technology. Businesses make more money off based on what we choose to see and/or write on the internet. Online connections have become so controversial that many people have lost their sense of control mentally and physically. Facebook is highly measured and censored, which is beginning to cross the line of our First Amendment rights because many people have voiced their controversial opinions. Our every move and choices are watched daily. Our society has not become controlled by social media, but by the choices we have made on the web and internet. We are the creators of choosing what we want to see and what is true and what isn’t true on the internet. The choices we make, things we click and post on Facebook is up to us and we can change the algorithm and change the problems and issues in our society.
Facebook was originally adopted by the early adopters from Generation X, Y and Z because it was the “cool” thing. Everyone was on it and it was almost viewed as odd if you didn’t have a profile. I remember my aunt, who is in her mid-thirties, was one of the original college students on Facebook in Cambridge in 2004. She always tells the story of how she was shocked when my mom joined. It was funny because for my aunt it wasn’t as exclusive or “cool” anymore once my mom, a late majority, joined and then finally my grandmother, a laggard. It was no longer just college students anymore. I feel my generation has gone away from Facebook too because our parents and grandparents use it as their sole means of social media communication. It’s not as “cool” anymore for us either. In my opinion, Generation Z has become more reliant on Instagram and Snapchat because it is not as fully censored and more visual and the platform is just easier to navigate through.
The negativity I have witnessed on Facebook lately has made me not be present on the platform as much anymore. I feel everything is so censored that I am afraid of what to even post anymore. I feel that the main feed is flooded with ads and it has become a forum by which people either brag or express negativity. I have seen comments whereby adults get into arguments on Facebook. I mostly use Facebook to keep in contact with my older relatives and sometimes long-distance friends. Many people comment and dislike other people’s comments because of their viewpoints and opinions more than ever. I have made the choice for myself to limit the access I spend on my phone every day, but I still get inundated with notifications, posts and information from my apps.
We have the responsibly to make the world better. I feel that how we voice our opinions and the choices we make on the internet can make a huge impact. A person may have thousands of friends on Facebook, but in reality how many of them are real friends. Real communication is so important and no app in the world will ever replace that.
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