You are not a traveller. You are a tourist. There is no noble version of showing up with a DSLR to Spiti or Ziro Festival.
Suddenly every "offbeat" destination is on Instagram reels. Kasol became Goa. Rishikesh became a yoga theme park. Coorg is now wall-to-wall resorts and homestays charging Bangalore prices while the local Kodava culture quietly disappears.
Locals in Manali can't afford rent anymore. Every guesthouse is booked by influencers shooting the same waterfall content. "Hidden gems" stop being hidden the moment someone posts coordinates in a travel Facebook group.
The Char Dham roads are choked. Kedarnath gets a helipad rush. Ladakh gets 3 lakh tourists a year with zero waste infrastructure.
Go fewer places. Stay longer. Spend at local dhabas, not cloud kitchen chains that opened a "mountain outpost."
And stop calling yourself a conscious traveler because you carried a tote bag to Spiti.