More Alike than Different?

 I recently read an article that I found to be one of the most interesting articles I've read in a while. It explored the differences between the different users of technology, the internet, and smartphones. Written in 2018, the article is titled "Social Media Use Continues to Rise in Developing Countries but Plateaus Across Developed Ones" by Poushter and Bishop. 

Throughout my read, a few things came to mind for me. First, this was written in 2018 - 5 years ago. How outdated it this information already? Based on some of the trends and graphs, it seems that some of their statistics might already be changed at this point. I don't blame this critique on them - simply an observation. 

However, as I read, the title kept coming back to my mind, specifically "But Plateaus Across Developed Ones". Looking at the percentage of internet usage for developed countries, its difficult to get much higher than the number they already have. US has 89%, Canada 91%, Australia 93%, South Korea 96%, and the majority of Europe is 87% or higher. It just seems misleading to ascertain if there is less growth in one set compared to the other. A better analysis might be measuring the percent increase compared to remaining non-users. 

So what does this mean for me? As an instructional designer in the United States designing primarily for a local audience, it honestly seems like not much. Pending who the audience is, most people use social media and the internet. There was a small decrease in the amount of smartphone owners as of 2017, but this number might be different today. If and when my position and audience changes, this research might be able to better guide the kinds of content I create. 


Source: Poushter, J., Bishop, C., & Chwe, H. (2018). Social media use continues to rise in developing countries but plateaus across developed ones Pew Research Center.Links to an external site.

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