I don't think there's an either / or here; and I also think that us old farts are missing the point because we are trying to replace one technology with trying to shoehorn a new tech into that world.
It's stupid to pass round the iphone, it misses the point by a country mile.
My kids are young adults (not even that young now) and I have grandkids - lets compare them with my life at that age.
I was a keen photographer in my 20's as a young dad - I'd shoot a lot more photo's than my peers, and when friends and relatives came round I'd entertain them by passing round prints or showing slides. My siblings / friends would have very few photo's and their photo sharing experiences would be less regular and indeed include very old pics of relatives.
Fast forward to 2020, my daughter has a shared iphoto album for each of her kids and all the family and a few close friends are entertained almost daily with photos and video clips of the babies. If you visited her house, the walls have more prints than mine did when she was a kid*; mostly from photo shoots (done by me) but they also have a calendar every year with images of the wider family (in their birthday month).
So the reality is that even non photographers are getting more pleasure and sharing more than we photographers ever did when we simply handed round prints.
*I had very few family pics on the wall for years, but the Mrs has just gone through all the old photo albums and our digital files and we have an extensive gallery on the hall walls now.