I appreciate the sentiment that people wouldn't zap a car crash but I think it depends on the individual and their current state of mind.
In the '80s, all of my high school friends did the pre-internet equivalent of zap a car crash by going to the video store and renting a VHS copy of 'Faces of Death', a compilation of footage depicting people dying in horrible ways.
I think the problem is us as individuals and how we value things. Much of the internet has become this weird place where the unofficial reserve currency is our private, personal data. To an extent, the internet, smartphones and social media only amplify what's already in our hearts, or what we've been conditioned to feel is worthy of our time. I suspect that our base desire to get something for nothing is probably at the root of it all.