Trying to understand why the author took this tact, my guess is rather than dragging the experienced professionals down to the level of the amateur selfie taker

Trying to understand why the author took this tact, my guess is rather than dragging the experienced professionals down to the level of the amateur selfie takers, they were trying to hoist the rep of the amateur selfie takers to that of the professionals, which is intellectually dishonest in this story. The question the story is asking is "why do people do this?" and the answer it's trying to prove is "because they're pros just out there doing their thing," when the real answer is probably closer to the very unsurprising "they're narcissists who really don't deserve any more consideration than a pitiful headshake." But that doesn't make a very interesting story, does it? I see this sort of "let's take a new look at this thing we all have a preconception about" approach to podcasts too, which start with a point and try to gather all the evidence they can to support it. It's obnoxious and dishonest and should not be considered comparable to an objective and well-researched article.