This is absolutely true. Before Instagram and similar sites, you'd invite friends over and then force a slideshow on them. This was widely reviled and turned into a staple of comedy. Because no one really wants to see people's travel photos.

The difference with Instagram and friends is that there's this sense of reciprocity -- that if we feign interest in other people's works, they'll have legitimate interest in ours. It's the giant lie of social media, where everyone is creating but almost no one is really consuming -- we all think we're tricking the system and cultivating our own consumers.