Am I just a Luddite?

[ageinghoody]

When I was researching e-readers I took a lengthy look at the Reading Life feature on Kobo. My reaction was, “Why on earth would I or anyone be interested in any of that”.

I find the idea of then exchanging these details on Facebook even more baffling!
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to know about my current reading, and I’m certainly not the slightest bit interested in theirs. And then when I first saw the Kobo webpage suggesting I “enrich someone’s day by sharing your favourite passages”, I couldn’t stop laughing for about 5 minutes. Surely whoever came up with that line must have been having a joke!

You’ll have gathered by now that the idea of “score-keeping” my own reading, and even more the whole concept of “Social Reading”, is completely alien to me. For some weeks I was actually deterred from buying a Kobo because of these utterly pointless features. However, I eventually concluded that they could in fact be ignored, and the KT, as a straightforward reader, was the best one for me.

I now realise from the number of posts on some relevantly titled threads, on this forum and others, (I haven't read them) that some people do find these features interesting and useful, and this is NOT a dig at them – each to their own. I’m just curious to know how many users out there are like me, who just want a device to download books, read them, and then, in most cases at least, delete them.

Anyone?

[spindlegirl]

Count me in as someone who doesn't do the facebooky and twittery mentality with regards to reading. I'm introverted and to me an e-reader is just an electronic story book holder, period.

[oldyellr]

I guess I'm a Luddite too. I have the Vox and find the included "social media" apps totally useless. As far as I'm concerned, things like Twitter are just self-promotion tools for businesses, politicians and egotists, i.e., twits. I'm not a competitive reader; I just read for pleasure and don't need to tell everyone on Facebook or Twitter how many books I'm reading and how fast I'm reading them. Even though I have Reading Life disabled, it keeps popping up whenever I swipe the screen the wrong way, which I find annoying. However, that stuff must be desirable to many people because a lot of them rave about it, and it does give Kobo a marketing edge over the competition.

[Asawi]

Joining the luddites! The first post in this topic describes my feelings and reactions very well! I had a Kobo Touch for a little while back in August (I think) but I bugged me big time that it seemed like the social "features" seemed more important than for example a serch within book function (that has been added, but it wasn't available back then), so I abandoned ship.

[danskmacabre]

I don't use any of those features either, but I love using my KT as just an ereader to read books and nothing else.

[spindlegirl]

I do like some aspects of twitter and facebook for things that are actually social. I had fun joining in the #CanadaReads hashtag and commenting and stuff, but for ordinary stuff, who cares?

I also find facebook's keyword search for what ads to stick on the sidebar hilarious, though, if not irritating.

I once showed a photo of some baby booties I had knit and described them as such, and got all kinds of sidebar "having problems conceiving?" or "One year of diapers free to win" contest, ads... LOL
I'm 44 and my youngest kid is ten, we're done.

[Jaden]

The first week or two, getting the awards was quite nice and even a little "addictive" - like a small game added. That was when I was still "playing" with my Kobo and was "getting to know it".

But now I don't really use the statistics, awards or the possibility to send quotes to Facebook - though I can see circumstances where the latter would be handy.

For example you could set up some kind of "online book club" and directly quote something you've just read to share with the others (maye to to discuss later). That could be very nice and especially help people that can't memorize quotes easily or that are not able to meet in person in book clubs.

[xwolfi]

I don't use the facebook option either on my Kobo Touch, but I do enjoy having these funny awards and trying to complete them xD But I could easily manage without them anyway, while I find the idea of the sudoku app much more appealing and I'd like to see more of these under-rated stuff from Kobo !

[ltr]

I find the idea of then exchanging these details on Facebook even more baffling!

Agreed, but then I've never understood why anyone would post personal information about themselves on a Facebook page for the world to see. Baffling indeed.

All the extra "features" on the Kobo are nothing but an irritant.

ltr

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by ageinghoody

When I was researching e-readers I took a lengthy look at the Reading Life feature on Kobo. My reaction was, “Why on earth would I or anyone be interested in any of that”.

Insanity, of course, especially given the Facebook tie-ins.

[SF&F Reader]

I'm with you guys. Right now I just hope we get a working Firmware before they tie Pulse into it.

[moffattm]

I think Kobo were chasing the younger audience with the social sharing stuff; teenagers share everything on Facebook these days and they think it's just the normal thing to do. Whenever I've questioned sharing personal info in a public forum I get told "you don't get it, you're too old" (yes I do use Facebook but I spend more time playing games on it than anything else).

The reading awards are a new trend that you'll see more and more of in the future, it's called gamification and it's a way to make a game out of things. Usually it involves doing different things in order to collect badges or awards and people that have the "gotta complete the collection" gene will go out of there way in order to get the complete set of awards. It's not really something that's all that new, years ago cigarette companies used to give away little cards in each pack of cigarettes and people would collect them and try to complete the collection.

The reading statistics are also a way to encourage people to read more, which can't be a bad thing, can it? Computers just make it easy to collect these sort of stats which in the past would have been difficult to collate (although I have heard of people that kept a record of every book they ever read).

Me? I'm not into sharing my reading with others, but the awards are just a fun thing and the statistics are interesting.

[notzed]

It's a simple psychological trick: it's using the `reward response' which is vital for learning-for-your-own-existence through play, and using it to try and sell more stuff with empty rewards for non-useful learning. And it adds an element of competition which some people seem to thrive on; e.g. the culture in the USA (in particular) seems to be founded upon extreme competition.

Fortunately it's one of the more inoffensive examples of the practice; and one can always turn it off. Compared to say farmvile[sic] or world of warcraft or even facebook, whose entire revenue models are built around it. At least xbox 'achievements' are an aside to the main game, although some people seem to get obsessed by them.

I think it's a load of tosh and such a dot point wouldn't even register when buying anything, but I still get a little twinge when one pops up - but not as much as when I brought up my own software on the machine. Which is the type of milestone I would consider an 'achievement'.

Each to their own I suppose - but I don't think one does harm to society when pointing out that people are being silly, even if it offends them a little bit! Nor does it make one a Luddite!

[FizzyWater]

I found them annoying and thought they should have been set up as opt-in, not something you have to opt-out of.

Of course, I only have a Facebook account so I can look up people I've lost track of (I never log in unless I'm looking for someone).

I don't twitter, either.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by moffattm

It's not really something that's all that new, years ago cigarette companies used to give away little cards in each pack of cigarettes and people would collect them and try to complete the collection.

Cigarettes, really? Wow...

At least the Kobo awards are less dangerous to your health - even for those who "don't cheat" and set their clock to specific times to get the awards for reading somewhen they would normally be asleep...

And yes, those awards are a little silly. But I guess (hope?) most people know that, even those with the urge to comp(l)ete.