Outside of sanctioned play events, I see no reason to bother with looking at the backgrounds. They're just going to be idea fodder for me. I'll ask players to either pick a background from the book or amke up their own, granting 2 skills proficiencies, 0 to 2 non-skill proficiencies/languages, a bit of equipment, and a feature of my choice. For example:
Merchant: History, Investigation, 1 language, proficiency with 1 set of tools of your choice, 'Friends in the Merchants Guild', Equipment: 1 tool set of your choice, Fine clothes, scroll case, signet ring, ink
Nothing in this area is going to throw a PC more out of balance than the random ability score die rolls...