The Web is amazing. So amazing, in fact, that it’s hard not to overhype it. Everyone, it seems, has a story or two (or ten) about how they were contacted by an old friend, or sold their Hummel collection, or met the love of their life…all through the Web.
Most of us are on the Web for much of the day, every day. But as valuable as the Web is, it’s not everything. In fact, there are areas where the Web simply falls flat. Of course, I’m probably expecting too much. The Web has been such an important part of my life that, instead of seeing it as an electronic tool, I treat it more like a star athlete, expecting it to hit the ball out of the park every time at bat, and I’m surprised when it fails.
But fail it does. Not because of slow processors, low memory, or narrow bandwidth-these things will all work themselves out over the next few years. No, there are places where, for practical, human reasons, the Web does not now and will never succeed. Here are a few.
Real estate. You can’t buy a house on the Web. I don’t mean it’s not possible to buy a house on the Web, but, practically speaking, it’s just an all-around bad idea because you’re essentially buying the house sight unseen. The problem is that house just looks too good on the Web. Looks like a steal, in fact. (“Only $155,000? You gotta be kidding me!”) Here’s a lesson: no matter how good the place looks, don’t put any money down until you’ve visited the premises. Only when you drive up to the place do you notice that the neighbor’s house is within spitting distance, the guy across the street collects picnic tables, and the power line, which hangs just a tad too low for comfort, emits a constant buzzing sound that mesmerizes the neighborhood cat population.
Books. Sounds like a lock, doesn’t it? Books on the Web. No need to clutter your office with printed books, just read them online and pay as you go. It’s cheaper and more efficient. This is one of those ideas that looks great on paper (pun intended), but just doesn’t work. The Web is fine for short articles and mindless PC columns, but have you ever tried to read anything of length online? It’s tiresome, awkward, and downright hard on the eyes. Bill Gates has this vision of a flexible, newspaper-like computer screen that you can roll up and put in your pocket. But even if that comes to pass, there is just something earthy about real paper – maybe it’s the feel, maybe it’s the smell, maybe it’s just the sound the page makes when you turn it – that will keep books, newspapers, and magazines in circulation for a long, long time.
College courses. Again, on paper, you might be able to make a case for taking a college class on the Web, but anyone who’s been to a real college knows that half the education (and three-quarters of the entertainment) comes from bouncing ideas around the classroom and engaging in heated debates with other students. The Web gives you no personal interaction. How, by just sitting at your PC, are you going to bate other students with comments like “What this country needs is another Nixon”? Such comments not only spark lively classroom conversations, they serve to broaden your worldview, hone your debating skills, and keep you awake in class. College is not just dissemination of information; it’s spontaneous face-to-face interaction that you’ll never get on a PC, even through a Webcam.
Clothes, shoes, cars, groceries. Just throw in ninety percent of all consumables here. So what if you can see a picture of the stuff? You can’t feel it, you can’t try it on. The entire shopping experience leaves you too detached from the merchandise to know that what you’re getting is what you really want. Sure, you can see the sweater online. You like the color, the size looks right. But until you put it on, you don’t know that it makes you look like Mr. Rogers. Would you buy a car without driving it first? Of course not. You need to make sure that the arm rest hits you right and your latte mug fits in the cup holder. And don’t tell me you try the car out at the local dealer and then order it online just to save a hundred bucks. You think the dealer’s not going to remember you when you bring it in for service? There’s my point.
Now don’t go taking this the wrong way. If you’re a long-time reader, you know that I’m a big fan of the Web. But as long as you and I are made out of flesh and blood, the Web will remain a really powerful tool that’s good for a lot of things, but falls apart where most human interaction is concerned. But don’t feel too bad if you’ve been taken in like I was. After all, it is called the Web.
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