This trope has been around a long time – I recollect reading an book by an academic (later head of the Smithsonian) writing that travel had become too easy – think that was possibly in the 1960s! Travel he said, used to be an adventure – now it had become entertainment.
But the sense of unease goes deeper. In the past we travelled to broaden and educate the mind. Travellers suffered discomfort – a mule over the Alps, a clipper across the Bay of Biscay – to absorb the wideness of the world, to feel small or vulnerable perhaps, and to allow the learning of other cultures to infiltrate their beings. Now, it seems, all that is reversed: there’s minimal danger or risk to travel, and our big egos are imposed on a small world. Sites are nothing more than the backdrop for our selfies because we go places not to learn from them, but just to post and boast to others that we’ve been there.
The story also mentions a town in Italy that has put in loitering restrictions that some reports say is a ban on taking selfies (it’s not – it’s a ban on blocking major pathways).
As an old person who is now new to travel, at the worst possible time, I travel to learn. I don’t do selfies. This year I will travel to two countries (one trip), and have spent 18 months studying the history, the culture *and* the language. I’m not good at speaking the language but I can now read it pretty well. We will be visiting historic sites and museums and will understand their historical and cultural significance.
Another travel report I just read said Africa is the new “it” destination (whatever that means) because so many people have been everywhere else, several times and need something new. Sigh.
My country count is at 2 and will hopefully become 4 this year.