What's new is the tidal wave of images out there. I think that before the advent of phone cameras, or perhaps more precisely the advent of the digital point-and-shoot, people paid more attention to photographs, and were able to distinguish between what was froth and what was serious stuff. Pieter's right. There always have been tourist shooters. The Argus C3 and its devotees come to mind. But in the late thirties through the Korean war Life magazine and its competitors published some very serious photographs, including those by HCB, Capa, Bischof, Haas, David Douglas Duncan, and I think people were able to make a distinction between what was good and what wasn't. Nowadays I think many people, and excuse me for saying it, younger people have been swept away by the flood. "Sunday on the Banks of the River Seine" is no different from a selfie -- just another pic.