reenforcement = results
My last posting about my love for Foursquare was a big hit--it seems a great many people also enjoy what the site has the potential to do.
And I do see great potential. They encourage exercise and proper eating with all sorts of fitness badges. And they do, on occasion, promote events that get people out of doors and away from the 4G feed like going to museums or holiday events.
So I was very excited seeing the new "Bookworm" badge on the site. All one needs to earn it is checking in at any three bookstores or libraries. Just to show what a literary type I am, I got mine after just one check in to the library--I guess I have a lot of book credit built up in the 4Sq ledgers.
However, once I got the badge I was disappointed. Disappointed at the phrase that comes up once someone is rewarded the badge, "You Nerd." What is this folks? High school? Scratch that. Junior high?
I know 4Sq is about having a sense of humor and many times I laugh even when their jokes push the envelope (check out the "Douchebag" badge to see what I mean). But isn't making fun of people who love books and reading past its prime as a gag? Isn't the anti-intellectualism that is so common in our country one of the problems we face as a nation? As a world?
And it's not like 4Sq doesn't cheer on its users when they are doing "cool" activities. For example, when a member checks in after 3 AM at a club they are given a badge and told "Checking in after 3am on a school night? Well done!" Or when they check in to a site with three members of the opposite sex, they get tons of reinforcement:"Look at you, checking in with 3 members of the opposite sex! Player, please!"
So why not marginalize reading? How great would it have been to see a remark like "Brains are the new sexy!" or "Ain't no stopping you now! What's the next book on your reading list?"
Instead I get called a nerd for wanting to better understand the world.
Stigmatize reading? Player please!
