The opposite of the early adopter has a name, and it isn’t kind

Still, some people are really proud of being one

It’s nearly 10 years since Apple released the iPhone, the first multi-touch smartphone and the device that kicked off a new stage in the mobile revolution. Android followed a year later in 2008, Windows Phone in 2010. Now smartphones feel ubiquitous. But they’re not. One in five Americans has yet to buy one. And that raises a question: Who are the holdouts?

They’re people who make proud statements like “I didn’t get a cellphone until, like, 2012.” They’re that pretentious cousin who still uses Yahoo search, the coworker who claims Facebook is killing American intelligence, some post-hipster who proudly texts on a T9 dumbphone.

Some are being ironic by refusing to rely on ubiquitous technology. Others don’t have Facebook because they’re too old to care or to learn. Whatever the reason, there’s a name for the last people to adopt an otherwise universal product, and it’s not particularly kind. The opposite of the early adopter is the laggard.

Laggards are part of a hierarchy of tech adoption based on a theory known as “diffusion of innovations,” which describes how an idea, behavior, or product is taken up by society. Though not officially coined until 1962—by communication researcher Everett Rogers—the diffusion of innovations was first studied in the 1920s midwestern United States. Sociologists wanted to know how rural farmers, who had little exposure to mass media, were learning about the latest advances in agriculture technology.

The answer was and is word-of-mouth. Especially with high-ticket items, the majority of consumers will only purchase when a trusted authority figure has used and recommended the item herself.

Looking at adoption through this lens revealed three other types besides early adopter and laggard. In fact, early adopter isn’t even the earliest. Ha ha.

• Innovators: The first to test an idea or product. Often visionary and imaginative, innovators may be thought-leaders acting within communities of invention. They have the fortitude and the financial liquidity to take risks.
• Early adopters: With an eye on innovators, early adopters invest when a product’s benefits become apparent. They have the highest degree of opinion leadership as they are often social and eager to maintain positions of prestige. They are trendsetters.
• Early majority: These individuals adopt an innovation a significant period of time—known as a chasm—after the first two groups. Pragmatic and progressive, this group nonetheless needs solid proof of benefit and convenience before using a new product.
• Late majority: Skeptical, conservative, cost-sensitive. Late majority’s main driver is fear of being left out. They have very little opinion leadership.
• Laggards: Typically the last to adopt an idea, laggards are averse to change. They are traditional, often of lower social status and income, and may only communicate with close family and friends. Often, they are older in age.

Each type of adopter represents a tipping point, another step toward market saturation. Technologies that have reached full adoption include the television, telephone, flushing toilet, internet, and cellphone. The internet is still on its journey toward saturation. Its sharpest growth of new users occurred between 1995 and 2002, in the early adopters and early majority phases.

(Pew Research Center)

Laggards likely don’t start out being ironic. One trait that this group tends to share is skepticism, which is linked to “processing fluency,” the ease with which our brains can handle change or challenge. “While skepticism can generally be regarded as a very healthy,” says Enrique Dans, Professor of Innovation at IE Business School in Madrid, “truth is that most skeptics don’t go the extra mile to validate new ideas, and just become skeptics because they just refuse to get additional experience or information.”

The number of laggards won’t decline as technology advances, either. In fact, it may increase due the relentless pace of innovation. Our brains simply become unable to process so much change. “For many users, being laggards become sort of a legitimized ‘identity,’ as it happens in some aspects of the hipster culture,” says Dans.