I don't find it hard to ignore all the social and gamified aspects of Goodreads. I use it solely for keeping track of what I've read and want to read, and for finding similar books to ones I've liked. And nothing else.

I'm older than the article's author, though. They mention they've been using Goodreads since their teens, whereas it didn't even exist until my mid-late twenties. I wonder if that has something to do with it? Perhaps if you start using it when younger, you get taken in by the social and gamified aspects?