Can we talk about electronics on the trail?

I'm sure I'll be seen as an old curmudgeon, and maybe I am, by my God, I can't believe the level of electronics that are on the Trail these days. Is this really acceptable? Today I saw a vlog with someone who had a GPS transmitter strapped to the top of his pack constantly transmitting his coordinates to his family, then, when he stopped for lunch, he pressed a button to let them know he'd be stationary for awhile. When he started up again, he'd press it again to let them know he was walking again.

And this is supposed to be an adventure??

I've been reading "Painted Blazes" by Loner 2012. He writes (pg 59) about Earl Shaffer's notes from his first thru-hike:

"...Long before today's technology of GoPros and YouTube, smartphones and Trail Journals, hikers documented their adventures with paper and pencil, 35 mm cameras (without a screen to preview pics) and film that might not be developed for 6 months to even see if the pictures came out!"

That last part described my hike, which was perfectly adequate. We didn't have cell phones to call ahead for rides. We managed. If someone today came into a shelter with a GoPro, I'd ask them to leave and leave the rest of us alone and unfilmed.

Very sadly, Loner '12, almost 40 years old, does not know what he missed.

I can't see how electronics embellishes anyone's hike. It seems a poor substitute for a wilderness experience. Worse, all these videos seem the same. People are hiking along, holding their camera out to film them, yammering on about nothing interesting except their friends Pappy and Josie and Yosemite Sam, and wasn't that last spring really something. Only three miles to the next shelter, if their feet hold out.

Aren't there those who resent electronics out there, who truly want to get away from the world? Do they not have a say. Loner '12 seemed very shy, but even he was guilty.

I hiked in 1996, and was good friends with Download & Nexmo. Download kept a kind of text journal that he uploaded at trail towns, about the first of its kind, but it was never intrusive on the trail and no hiker ever knew he was he was doing it unless they asked about his name:

http://users.fred.net/kathy//at/oldkushman.html

Why is the outdoor experience being compromised so easily?

David/Bronco
(NJ->MA '94; GA->MA '96)