It doesn't really matter if the accident was staged or not. Profiting from a real accident is worse than staging a fake one. More broadly, it simply isn't pos

It doesn't really matter if the accident was staged or not. Profiting from a real accident is worse than staging a fake one. More broadly, it simply isn't possible to publicly document events like this (even if they're happy events) without cheapening them. This is the fundamental problem with instagram (and other social media) and my sense is that people are becoming increasingly aware of it. By publicizing yourself (and your life), you are lying. The only way to truly reveal yourself to other people is through action (words and deeds). So I agree with the article that we're in the midst of a backlash against the whole "influencer" thing. As usual with these things, that backlash has already occurred in the weird, unclean corners of the internet and now it's spreading into the mainstream. I don't know where things will end up, but it will be interesting to see. I suspect that there are healthy ways to use social media but they will require a self-awareness that the first generations of social media users lacked.