Not to go on a rant, because I certainly don't wantto go on a rant, but what is with the narcissism of the current generation of kids? "Look at me!" "Watch the documentary of me starring me!" "I am doing something!". I mean it's one thing to take pictures of (or write works to describe) your trip, but the constant presence and immediacy of networked cell phones coupled with the proliferation of self-focused media seems to me to just cheapen the experience.
Maybe I'm just showing my age (or maybe it's just me being an antisocial luddite who doesn't read other people's trip reports), but whatever happened to just enjoying the hike for the purpose of the hike without turning it into nothing more than content for a show you are producing? Do people actually do things for themselves anymore, or is everything just a constant search for public recognition?
I would imagine their parents are happy that they are documenting their every footfall and "OMG look a frog" moment so they can be assured their loved ones are safe, but I think they are missing something that is unique to the trail experience (the sense of discovery) that you really can't get anywhere else, and those things should just stay on the trail for the next person to discover on their own. Maybe this is the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol warned us about, I dunno.
Yes, I know that someone is going to say that I should just HMOH and let them HTOH, but when the journey is treated as nothing more than public content, it loses a lot of the essence of what has traditionally made it a unique experience, and what many of us perceive as an inner calling that pushes us "out there" with a voice that we cannot resist.
I'd better stop now before I end up going on a rant.