Antediluvian snobbery?

I recently entered some pictures at the local fair and while picking them up afterwards, fell into conversation with a lady of my acquaintance who was likewise picking up her daughter's paraphernalia.  Said bairn is around twelve, only slightly younger than I was when I embarked on my photographic adventures two decades ago, but there has been a seismic shift in the world as we know it since then.  Growing up in the 1990's was like growing up in the 1890's, for then electricity, telephones, and automobiles were about to change the world as they knew it, for our generation it was the internet/computers.  This dear lady asked me what program I used to edit my photos and I was rather at a loss for an answer.  I use the program on my mac to weed out anything that's blurred, out of focus, or has unwanted artifacts but I don't even consider editing them (unless they are fun or irreplaceable shots of people).  'Back in my day,' we amateur photographers had little access to all the cool stuff the professionals had and with film and commercial processors, you could not rely on 'editing' to get a good shot.  I was forced to learn how to take good pictures and knew that each shot cost around twenty-five cents (between film and processing costs) whether it was 'good' or not, whereas digital shots are pretty much 'free.'  Back in those days our phones were also chained to the wall and did nothing but make phone calls; ours even had one of those dially doohickies…talk about outdated!  Cameras were cameras and phones phones.  I still refuse to take pictures with something intended for communicative purposes.

So does this make me archaic or simply a snob?  I love what people can do with photo editing and how widely accessible technology is nowadays, but I am afraid it has also made people less thoughtful and precise in how they treat the medium (just check out a random sampling of pictures on your favorite social media site).  Of course they probably complained about the same problems with the advent of the printing press!  Now the masses can read and gulp, perhaps one day write!  I should rather rejoice that any number of dabblers now have access to the art and one day may become good at it.  The problem with the 'good old days' is that there really is no such thing, we just paint them golden and rose through the lens of nostalgia and the semi-forgetfulness that comes with it.  I am outdated, of course in computer years I should be in my grave long ago…I will confess I am still a fan of Windows 95…I cannot hold this up and coming generation to the same strictures mine had to endure.  With so many amateur photographers (anyone with a cell phone) out there and so many poor shots, these kids will have to strive to become good and stick out from the masses, so maybe things are as they have always been, just with different circumstances.  As in any hobby at any time, and for life in general, one must strive to become more than mundane.  So strive on you photophilics and rise to the top of a vast mediocre sea!