Do you ever feel like hiding your reader?

[kacir]

Originally Posted by SolRaven

Wow... that's really interesting. Instead of seeing something that they want and figuring out how they can elevate themselves to be able to have one as well, they wish to bring their neighbors down. That must come from being put down so many times, that they almost lose their ability to elevate themselves. Talk about killing vision and self-actualization.

This has deep historical reasons.
Here I am not talking only about Croatia, but about all Eastern block and former Soviet Union.
During early "good, old socialistic times" there was forced collectivisation. They were forcing individual farmers to give up their land / machinery / livestock to the "collective". "Collective" was a huge farm, that *in theory* could be managed much more effectively than small, independant farms. As you can imagine, lots of deep injustice was done back then.
Then there was "clensing". When farmer was successful, he was pronounced a "Kulak" - that meant farming capitalist that was exploiting poor and defenseless farm workers. Kulak was put into prison and, very often, the person who reported him got [some of] his farm / livestock / produce / machines.

Later, in advanced socialistic times, when the collectivisation of farms and factories was finished and the economy was up and running (kinda, sorta, running), you were not supposed to have more than your neighbor. You were all paid more or less the same. Having better car, or going for holiday to a capitalistic country meant you called attention to yourself.
For example kids from a "working class background" had better chance of going to good university. If there were two kids that had exactly same entrance tests for university or good high-school, and one had parents that were manual workers (and party members) and the other one that had parents a doctor and a lawyer, the "working class" kid had much better chance to get to university.

Times are changing, because it has been 20 years since the "Good Old Socialistic System" has collapsed in Eastern Europe, but some things are still perceived differently. Things like flaunting expensive electronics, or respecting intellectual property.

[Ivy]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

In my family though the readers have spread like wildfire after I got one. My wife, father, mother, sister, niece and uncle all got one.

I wish this would happen in my family... but no. My dad has an iPad, mom is not into technology and sister is not into reading.

Even when other people ask about it, their reactions are mostly negative. "It's so small. It's just black and white. It doesn't have background light. The touchscreen doesn't work well (while trying to pinch and zoom). It's so slow. Look at it flashing while changing pages, it's gonna blind you."

One or two people commented on how good the text looks and how much it resembles a printed page.

[Sweetpea]

My mother's got one, my little brother isn't into reading and my older brother refuses to buy ebooks as long as there is DRM.

[ChipnDale]

I hide mine when I am out and about because where I am right now I will get robbed if I flash it too much (people have phones stolen on a regular basis so an e-reader is just asking to be robbed).

When I was somewhere much safer I would take it everywhere with me unless it was a place that might have risked my ereader screen, I've had looks mostly and a few questions but nothing too out of the ordinary.

[stickybuns]

Having an electronic gizmo won't get you much attention around here. Laptops are ubiquitous, and tablets/iPads/smartphones are becoming increasingly common. Heck, I've even seen half-a-dozen ereaders out in the wild.

Using my drop spindle in public? Now that's what gets me the whispered comments: "What is she doing?" I dunno, ask her... "I'm not going to ask her! You ask!" No way! You ask!

Ah, shocking teenagers is fun

[The Terminator]

DRM? That's like making a fence from matchsticks to defend against "The Ghost And The Darkness" Tell him that if he can use a computer he can remove DRM.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Ivy

One or two people commented on how good the text looks and how much it resembles a printed page.

I got that comment a few times, too.