"to this end, and due to social media and blogging, many of us are always selling ourselves, however subtly."

I think the dominant belief of our generation is basically that you shouldn't talk unless you're selling something. I don't think that this is because the people doing the 'selling' are superficial, but rather because the general public is becoming less well-educated and capable of independent thought. So the burden of thought is essentially now placed almost entirely in the hands of third parties. It's an extremely troubling trend.