I think this is clear from the title of the paper: "Stop that! It’s not Tourette’s but a new type of mass sociogenic illness"

I don't think that is inappropriate. Mass sociogenic illnesses are recognized and generally thought to be related to stress and psychological conditions. It makes sense that they would opine on what these stressors and conditions are, and back them up with a dozen references.

The thrust of the paper, which is that behaviours seem to be on some level 'contagious' is an absolutely important issue.

If these can be contagious, imagine what other 'in the range of normative' types of behaviours are equally contagious?

Anyone who's around small children knows how immediately and intimately they observe and learn behaviour, it's definitely something we don't think of enough.

I'm not sure if I agree with the thesis in that attention-seeking is a fundamental driver for most, I think it is for a very large cohort and is a 'relevant factor' for further study. Though it's a tough one to decompose no doubt.