Like, you say you don't click links because you use Google instead... but Google search returns links. It could not even function without links. Keyword search is even one of the listed goals in the proposal, because prior to the Web, there was no singular place to find and retrieve information like that:
> At CERN, a variety of data is already available: reports, experiment data, personnel data, electronic mail address lists, computer documentation, experiment documentation, and many other sets of data are spinning around on computer discs continuously. It is however impossible to "jump" from one set to another in an automatic way [...] Usually, you will have to use a different lookup-method on a different computer with a different user interface. Once you have located information, it is hard to keep a link to it or to make a private note about it that you will later be able to find quickly.
That's how utterly different the world was without the Web. You couldn't open ten pages from different sources in one application and then Google for something in a new tab. Every single way of accessing information would've been its own distinct application, without much overlap or interoperability between them. Any attempt to build a search engine like Google or a content aggregator like HN would've been stymied by the sheer variety of formats and standards for presenting information.