19 April 2011
Chained to Yelp
Posted by Roland under: Personal .
Let me say first off that I love Yelp. Somehow, I’m a Yelp elite, despite its quickly lessening significance nowadays. I think Yelp has been a great tool in helping people not just find good eats, but also other services. I’ve found my doctor, dentist, laundry, etc. through that little site. Having something that has been vetted by others can’t be beat, because you know you can trust the results.
That being said, I’m a little worried. Let’s face it, I think we’re all really chained to Yelp now. I don’t want to get into the whole issue of how the internet has fundamentally changed society. It has, of course.
But think about it. Before, if you didn’t know something, you didn’t have the answer at your fingertips. You asked around, looked it up somewhere else, or maybe just gave up. And if you didn’t know, you had to live with the fact that you probably wouldn’t ever know. And that kind of feeling stuck with you.
So now when looking for places to eat, we have to vet it through a Yelp check. Less than 4 stars? No good.
Whatever happened to just going out? Just wandering and finding eats? We used to pick something that looked good from the menu in the window, or seeing a good number of people inside enjoying themselves.
Do we now have to make sure the place we eat has been approved by X number of Yelp users? Must we have 7×7 define what we eat? If it doesn’t give me another notch on a 7×7 list then do we not go?
Food reviews have a place, obviously. Food critics were around long before Yelp ever came along and they’re still around now. But now more than ever, we’ve become a super picky society. Yelp recommendations are useful, but does this mean we have no personal opinions of our own?
What happened to exploration? The days of hit or miss?
My tagline on Yelp is “willing to try anything once”. What other people say is useful but you won’t really know for yourself if you experience a certain place, right? I’m just wondering if we’re all missing a lot of places we’d like, even if the Yelp majority doesn’t, just because we’re not giving something a chance.
Some of the best moments I had in my travels to Japan was wandering the streets looking for something to eat. I’m sure Japan has some Yelp like site over there (not like I know how to read it) but some of the best food I’ve had there was just through a place I popped into, with nothing else to guide me but my senses.
Not saying Yelp needs to go away…by no means. But I think we could all use a little exploration in our life right? How about we put down the phone with the Yelp application. Close the window with the 7×7 restaurant list. Just wander your neighborhood, find a place that looks good and try it out. Maybe it’s 1 star, maybe it’s 5 stars, but at least it was your choice.