Second wave of wisdom? I'll surf in.
Reasons are very, very obvious.
Is photography still popular?
More than ever before with use of cameras in mobile phones.
Dmitry Markov switched from DSLR to iPhone. And paid for Magnum courses with couple of big name mentors.
Why he is able to pull it out with iPhone instead of pro gear? Because he is gifted person and it is easier with the phone instead of the rig in his case.
What rest of us do? Lets be honest first and foremost, most of us are not gifted. Should, does it stopping us to take pictures of something we are finding interesting? No. Do we think what more advanced camera than in the phone will take better images? Yes. And if we want it on tele, SWA end, high ISO, better flash, 1/8000 and so on, cameras in mobile phones can't do this.
Or you could switch to film, take weak photos, but feel creative. Because it is analog and forgiving media.
But here is slippery slop. If you play golf, fishing, even just cycling it just next to norm to have multiple gear and endless updates.
Gear acquisition syndrome is well common not just among photography.
If you aren't gifted and not really willing to improve, it just much more easy to buy, try, report and rave about it. New camera or film grain on scans.
Is it totally sin? No, because it allows to make more competent choice among much wider options and opinions, real user experience. As long as you now how to google it.
Photography talk?
Do we really need it? I go to exhibitions, keeping photo books and looking at photos on-line for completely different reason. And it is totally normal. Images are made to look at them.
Seriously, lets be just adequate here. How much talk do you hear in museums in front of the paintings?
And as it was mentioned from very beginning, where are plenty of threads and so on at this forum with images to look at. And after forum update you could even like the picture if you are finding it interesting.