> In 2018, you can quickly tap Zomato and use its tremendous compendium of information to browse through what the top 500 restaurants are, filter it down to 20 by how much time you’re willing to travel, the money you’re willing to spend, and what other people like you say about a place ...

> In 1990, you wouldn’t have heard about it unless you stumbled by during a drive, or someone went out of his or her way to tell you

On the other hand, in 1990, people actually frequently hung out physically with other people who were like them. If the restaurant was good, they would eventually hear about it from one of those people--but not by anyone going out of their way to mention it, but rather simply in the casual conversations people had with friends back then.

I think it is the shift many have made to interacting more online and less in person that makes things like Zomato almost necessary.

I personally realized how much of my socializing is online when my car dealer called to urge me to get an airbag recall handled. I got the driver side airbag recall dealt with promptly when it was announced, but this one is just for the passenger airbag. I told them I was waiting until the next scheduled maintenance, because it has been 10 years since I've had a passenger in my car, so it is not really urgent.