Love your article. Stirring it up is fun. Double bubble toil and trouble. I agree with you, and I already am over 70. Here's my take on it. There's a lot of crap out there. Social media is sort of like the laterals on a septic system. All the crap eventually settles out and ceases to stink, and go away. There's also a lot really stunning photos out there, a lot by accident. Accident's happen. That good stuff just floats around out there in the ozone on Pinterest, Facebook, etc., and probably never will go away, unless all of Al Gore's predictions come true. So what. Enjoy them for what they are. If people consistently pay money for your photographs, that's pretty good sign they are good. If not, they're probably not. If you don't want or need the money and just give you photos away, you may want to visit their homes and see where they hang them or don't hang them. Might be an indicator....just a thought. I like to play a funny game when I am out shooting, especially if I have the big lens and a tripod. People invariably ask me, "are you a professional?" If I answer yes, they hang around and start in with, do you have a website, where do you sell your work, what is your speciality (an odd question when I am shooting landscapes, but that's probably me just thinking like a smart ass). If I say no, they walk away. How do I decide what to say? Totally random. Sometimes I say "I'm a professional amateur." That usually gets a deer in the headlights look. It's fun.
People who describe wines and works of art crack me up. I prefer, "it tastes really good" and "wow, that's a great shot." Susan Sonntag wrote some of the most boring drivel about the horror of using the word "shot" when speaking about photography. I bet she was not any fun at a party and I have never seen any of her photographs. Has anyone? People who think more of themselves than the subject on which they are speaking seem to have no sense of humor. None of that here, friends. Only some of those dopey articles you hyperlinked to.
I digress.
Peter Lik is a lightning rod, outdoorsman extraordinaire, a master marketeer, a real magician, an enigma. He also takes pretty good photographs.
Josef Sudek had one arm, carried a gargantuan view camera and survived the nazis and WW2. He also took pretty good photographs.
Suzie Millenial take some interesting shots with her iPhone and posts them on Pinterest. She's lucky and some of them are pretty good.
I'll bet Peter, Josef and Suzie all have/had a pretty good sense of humor and manage/managed to have fun.
Let's not take ourselves too seriously and by all means, get out there, shoot away, and have fun.
ps
I do sell my photographs, in a gallery; I don't have a website, don't use social media...well, I text and use Flikr, and the prints I have given away to friends, hang in their living rooms, offices, bedrooms, and bathrooms.
One friend never put it up after praising it, asking for it, and getting it, free. They are no longer a friend.
pps
I leave you with my favorite photography quote:
"You are in service of the end, which is the print. The print is in service of your voice, which is what you want to say, which is why you took the picture in the first place." -Vincent Versace
He takes really good photographs and has a wicked sense of humor.