Welcome to Wilderness 2.0

Camping on Twitter, hiking in Google Street View, mountaineering on Snapchat, #natureselfies on Instagram. Most of us who find ourselves routinely staring at a screen have watched wistfully as friends and acquaintances share glorious shots of sunning themselves on beaches, hiking forested trails, climbing snowy peaks, or camping in the bush. Among millennials, the urge to toss it all in and travel the world exploring wild places seems stronger than ever. Many bloggers who have done so 'sell' their content to a following of millions and make a tidy living - or at least enough to fund their endless summer. 'Welcome to the DigiPlace,' suggests anthropologist James Stinson, where the lines between actual and virtual wilderness are blurred as the wild is repackaged for enthusiastic 21st-century consumers.