I think the olden days of photography with the limits on the rolls etc, created some great photographers. You didn't have an infinite supply of film at your disposal so every shot had to be thought through.

Action and sports photography is an exception to this since you just click as many photos as you can to capture the right moment.

So I wonder if the explosion of digital cameras and smartphones have helped in creating better photographers. One argument could be that now there are lot more people who are taking up photography and some of them eventually will figure out the intricacies of the craft and become better photographers. Kind of like the 80-20 rule. On the flip side there is also a lot of noise (people just clicking photos), which is fine I think.