Well firstly for the record I was never arguing that people can't spend their free time however they want - I believe I said "each to their own" and earlier mentioned that it wasn't something I would do myself and don't really understand it, but that's not exactly judgement or telling people what they can and can't do...
As for the superior thing I'm sorry to say that that really is just the way the world is now over virtually everything... Obviously it is a generalisation but everything is marketed on the FOMO factor stoked super hard by social media these days - just look around at the launch of anything and you'll see it. How about those 30XX series cards lately to pick even just one topical example?
Fair enough on the first point, I'm of a similar mind of live and let live.
As for the second, I don't really agree with you, although I admit I don't take part in social media (unless you count forums such as these) and neither myself or those I'm friends with fit the mold you're describing. I genuinely don't care what others think about what I choose to do in my free time. For the record, I probably wouldn't pointedly advertise the fact I'd just bought a new graphics card and spam pictures of it all over the internet either.