Am I just a Luddite?

[CazMar]

I agree with you and most of the other posts here - sharing everything you are reading on a moment to moment basis is about as boring as hearing someone's dreams! An occasional list of "Interesting books I have read this month" may be of some value to your friends, but I'd rather not waffle on about my reading habits all the time. I don't mind Facebook as my family is scattered around Australia and it gives us a way of staying in touch by sharing photos and thoughts, but we don't need every detail of what we are doing!

[moffattm]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Cigarettes, really? Wow...

Yup, they would choose a topic, such as famous baseball players or animals, and people would collect them and trade them with their friends and try to get a complete set.

When I was a kid I used to eat a breakfast cereal that came with cards and you could also buy a book to stick them in that gave you more information about the subjects.

It's all a marketing ploy to try to engage the audience and buy more products, but the point I was trying to make is that this isn't really something new that is unique to Kobo.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by moffattm

It's all a marketing ploy to try to engage the audience and buy more products, but the point I was trying to make is that this isn't really something new that is unique to Kobo.

I knew about cerials, sweets and the like, which is bad enough, but cigarettes... well, okay, the mechanism is the same...

With Kobo, it doesn't really work, at least not with the Kobo Touch and at the moment, since there are not product specific awards to be won. Though it might have sold some devices.

And the Facebook part will at least get (some) people to know Kobo if they see the awards posted to their friends' accounts. And if the get the app or buy a Kobo device because of that and post to their accounts, more people will get to know Kobo. So I agree it's mostly a marketing ploy.

[ageinghoody]

Thanks for the responses people, it's good to know I'm not just a complete misanthrope!

I do in fact have a Facebook account, but that was set up mainly to keep in touch with my daughter who works in London. (However she now seems to have lost interest in FB and has gone back to emailing and texting) I've put the absolute minimum of personal information on there, my photo's a silhouette, only "friends" (who are in single figures) can see any info, and they're all real friends anyway so they all already know the information! All the notifications are turned off, so the only time Facebook impinges on my life is when I occasionally choose to look at it.

Twitter is useful when my Rugby team is playing away, as someone will be sure to tweet the ongoing state of play. Otherwise I haven't found a use for it.

As I said, this isn't intended as a criticism of those who do enjoy these things, I just don't know how they can spare the time.

I can't and I'm retired!

[ageinghoody]

Also I don't have a clue what the "Karma" button is for, what the 85k+ figure represents or where it came from!

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by ageinghoody

Also I don't have a clue what the "Karma" button is for, what the 85k+ figure represents or where it came from!

Click on the top bar where it says "User CP" and scroll down and it will show you who gave you Karma points. People frequently give points when a post tickles their fancy in some way, kind of a way to say, "Good post!"

[ageinghoody]

Thanks spindlegirl - good to know I'm doing something right.

Actually my wife's just pointed out that, if I really was a Luddite, I wouldn't dream of owning an e-reader, much less be posting on a forum.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by ageinghoody

Thanks spindlegirl - good to know I'm doing something right.

Actually my wife's just pointed out that, if I really was a Luddite, I wouldn't dream of owning an e-reader, much less be posting on a forum.

True. It's kind of funny having old-fashioned ways in the face of technology.

[pumpkincat]

I read Ageinghoody (#1) and more or less agreed, then I read moffattm (#12) and thought it was a good explanation. I can understand that it might interest some people, but I have no problem ignoring them. Facebook and twitter are adequate for all the sharing I want to do.

[spindlegirl]

I live on the opposite coast of canada from where I grew up. So Facebook is a pretty good way to keep up with the folks I've been missing for 16 years, since they all hang out there anyway. Twitter I used to think was kind of stupid, but I am getting used to following hashtags for certain topics I may follow at any given time.

Being an introvert in my off-computer world, the social sites let me control the amount of social interaction from day to day.

But I find it kind of funny that book readers are now starting to be "social" devices. My two favorite sedentary hobbies of knitting and reading used to grant me "antisocial" status. Now, young folk seem to only want to do any of these things if it can be a tweetable thing hehe.

My inner Luddite has not yet embraced the cellphone world. I am in the minority of folks who not only have never owned a mobile phone but wouldn't know how to "text" someone. I am at home much of the time, and my husband has a desk job, rendering me to not really be in the demographic of cellphone users, not even recreationally. I couldn't stand to have people bugging me all the time. If people have to try again when I am not home, so be it.

[hidari]

No Twitter, No Facebook, no Social Media..... I am then a happy "Luddite"...fortunately there are 5 Billion of us who are.....

[HarleyB]

Thanks for posting this thread!
I have been reading other posts from those who are so involved in their Reading Life, chasing certain rewards and complaining that there aren't more rewards to earn and I was starting to wonder what was wrong with me.

I have Reading Life turned off.
I was initially mildly interested in keeping a record of my reading ie how long in total, how many minutes per session, how many books etc. However due to the storage error issue from last year and problems with the 1.9.16 update I have had to reset my Kobo almost as many times as I have turned it off. I sideload all my books and so I never sync. The statistics that I do accumulate are so inaccurate they are meaningless.

[Mollynix]

I'm with you Aginghoodie!

[Gaffer]

I'm another with zero interest in the reading life awards - turned them off day one. I don't think I can be called a Luddite, since I've made a living as a software engineer for a couple of decades, but I've never opened accounts with either Facebook or Twitter. I'm not against technology - I use Skype regularly to visit with family. That at least offers some semblance of privacy.

Re: the cigarette collectibles, I had a friend who smoked Chesterfields through high school and at least into college, partly so he could collect Chesterfield coupons. You could redeem the coupons for various products, but it took a very large number of them to be worth anything. I don't recall them offering an iron lung in the catalog.

[spindlegirl]

Likewise when I had to keep resetting the Kobo. Receiving the same reading awards and stats over and over did get somewhat boring.

My husband had a giggle the other day when we'd just settled into bed and each of us started reading our books (he has the Kobo Touch and I have my Sony) and he turned a page and received a reading award called "Good in Bed". He jokingly wondered just how much Kobo knew about him lol.