Too Much Information

The internet hasn’t made finding a good restaurant, a good hotel, a good book, a good lawn mower any easier, in my opinion. Sure you can find reams of comments, suggestions and ratings for almost any consumer product or service on various websites, which should be a huge improvement over the pre-internet days when word of mouth, a family friend or relative, and a few consumer magazines were all you have to go on.

But the pendulum has swung the other way. Now we have too much information. Taking a trip to Miami? Should be easy to find a good hotel, just check out Hotels.com and read the reviews. Problem is, reviews are all over the place. For every great review a hotel receives, you have customers reporting horrible experiences.

Same thing with restaurants and books. My latest novel has been rated five stars to one-star on Goodreads.com, so you don’t gain much from that. And be especially suspicious of highly-rated products and services with just a few reviews—chances are they’re planted by the purveyors (not mine, of course!).

In the end, we’re still on our own. Too much information via the internet horde is just as bad as not enough information. Consumer Reports is still the gold standard of ratings vehicles, but unfortunately you have to pay for it. Otherwise, we’re back to trusting the opinions of friends and family and the local theatre, film, and restaurant critics.