On Social Cataloging Apps

by Kylee Walton

I’ve been using Goodreads since 2020—around five years now. Goodreads is a social cataloging app where users can track the books they’re reading, log them (or “shelf” them in Goodreads terms), rate them on a star level, and leave reviews for them. I originally started using Goodreads to keep track of the books I read so I wouldn’t forget them, and to hold myself accountable when it came to reading more. If I saw how much I was actually reading on a percentage scale, I would then be pushed to read more. Goodreads allows users to set a reading goal for the year and it tracks how many books you’ve read by percentages. Currently, my reading goal for the year is 20 books. So far I’ve read 16 books, so I’m 80% of the way to meeting my goal. Goodreads also tells you if you’re ahead or behind schedule for your reading goal. I’m two books ahead of schedule, but I have to make sure I keep that pace. 

Seeing this, all these numbers and percentages, has pushed me into reading more. For the past four years, I’ve met my reading goals. By doing this, I’ve made reading into another statistic in my life.

I journaled about this a while back: with apps like Goodreads, I noticed that I’ve shifted my focus onto cataloging and managing what I’m reading instead of actually enjoying the meticulous process of reading a book. In my head, I’ve linked this to the fast-paced ideology that society has taken on after the integration of technology into everyday life. I find myself comparing my reading habits to everyone else’s that I see online. I become ashamed because I haven’t read 100 books this past year, ashamed because I don’t devour books at the same pace as others do, ashamed because I’m not reading the more aesthetically pleasing edition of a certain book.

I had a similar conflict that I’m still currently having with Goodreads with Letterboxd. Letterboxd is a movie rating and cataloging app. I downloaded Letterboxd around two years ago and soon fell into a similar rabbit hole of comparison and percentage-based focus. I was watching movies just to say I had watched them, that I had watched a few movies in a week, instead of actually watching them and enjoying them as movies. I’ve noticed, over time, that I feel more relaxed when it comes to watching movies. I stopped keeping up with goals of watching a movie a day, or three movies a week, because it became more of a chore than an activity. I remember writing on my to-do lists “watch a movie” practically every day. I did not watch a movie on the days I wrote to do so on my list. When I stopped doing this, stopped expecting this of myself, that mindset I had simply dissipated. I watch movies regularly now because I let go of that pressure I was putting on myself.

I’ve noticed that I still write “read” on my to-do lists. There hasn’t been a period where I sit down and actually read for weeks now. People can easily become lost when they track certain things. Numbers become more digestible and powerful than words. For a while now, I’ve been debating on whether or not to ditch Goodreads entirely and just manually record the books I read in a notebook. Another part of me has debated on keeping Goodreads, but only use it to log when I start and end a book. 

In general, I have been trying to find replacements for technology in my life. I’ve started playing sudoku instead of scrolling on my phone. I try to write my to-do lists in a pocket notebook instead of on my phone. Every once in a while I think about if I were to live life as I currently do without Goodreads and Letterboxd, without the internet in general, I would not be making so many comparisons to others. I would have nothing to compare myself to because I am invested in my own experience.