>burning need for external validation

Eh, being an "influencer" is kinda dumb, but your estimations of the motivation of people who post a lot on social media might be exaggerated.

The best sushi restaurant in town doesn't have any more or less quality because people make a lot of instagram posts about it.

Annoying people liking a thing doesn't ruin it. Just don't pay attention to them and don't worry about what they're doing.

If you don't like how people are spending their lives give them less head space, don't spend too much time judging them, classifying them, or trying to fix the social ills causing their existence.