Technology and Cynicism:
The Digital Interregnum
Summer Research project 2002
The research challenges the arbitrary notion of a
single movement from an Analogue to a Digital Age
& suggests the introduction of an interim period
(defined by the research as a ‘Digital Interregnum’),
providing a powerful explanation of recently observed
phenomena (dot.com boom and bust etc.,) and offering
insight into future direction and technology adoption.
Research Objectives
- Explore consumers attitudes
towards technology & how this fits into their
lives
- Separate the sample into varying
adopter groups according to Everrett Rogers –
Laggards, Late Majority, Early Majority and Early
Adopters
- Explore differences in attitudes
between different adopter groups
- Understand the differences in
these attitudes and examine both barriers to and
opportunities for take up
- Give an account for technology
adoption failure
Research Methodology
- Four qualitative focus
groups representing each adopter category
- A quantitative survey of 1000
responses was carried out over a random sample
- Respondents segmented into adopter
groups and asked about their general technology
use
Key Themes
Digital Age
- We do not live in a Digital
Age…yet. For now we have the Digital Interregnum
- 74% of the current population
were born before the PC so current digital use largely
adaptive, the Digital Age won’t happen until
those with natural digital behaviours and those
who are adapting reach critical mass
Adopter Segmentations
- Within the pre and post
PC groups there are differing levels of adoption
- These groups may become
more sophisticated over time, e.g. a laggard may
in time own a mobile, an MP3 player and a Digital
Radio, but the early adopters will have much more
and will be using these devices in a very different
way.
Access, Adoption, Failure, Trust
- Brand and trust play a very
different role in each of the adopter categories’
lives
- Technologies need to be introduced
in incremental steps for them to be adopted by the
‘lower’ adopter groups
- Some groups may always be laggards
and as we have an ageing population older laggards
may experience digital disenfranchisement
For more information about this and other MRA projects
contact enquiry@teleconomy.com
or phone us on 01524 382000.
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