Going Out to Eat Before/After the Internet

The Internet is supposed to make our lives easier. From connecting us with everyone on the planet to looking up the answer to almost any question, there’s really nothing the Internet can’t do.

So, why, then, did life seem simpler before the Internet? Little things like making plans to go out to eat before the Internet arrived seemed simple. You call your friends, you go somewhere, you laugh, then you go home. No one had to have the greatest meal of their life. You just went to the restaurant you always went to, or you tried the new restaurant, and that was that. If it was good, it was good. If it was bad, oh well.

Now, every meal-based decision needs to be planned and analyzed to the tenth degree. You can’t just go out and eat some food. You have to make sure you’re having the right food. The restaurant has to be researched and cross-referenced and hyped up to the point that no meal can live up to. And that’s not even getting into the social media hyper-focus that’s dominated every single second of our lives.

In order to drive the point home as to how our lives pre- and post-Internet have changed, we put together this helpful graphic. Enjoy.