I've often wondered about this. I came into beekeeping last year with an animal husbandry point of view, though there was some aspect of 'doing good' to my decision also. I see a lot of folk at bee club meetings who are wholly into bees as a hobby, are entirely excited, and have little to no understanding of the many aspects of keeping bees or any indication that they are interested in knowing. Mostly, they take a 'set it and forget it' approach. Or, they try everything they have ever heard of to address an issue without actually trying to figure out what the problem is. Some of those people seem to have dropped off the face of the Earth but some persist. So yes, there are a lot of folk who get into beekeeping as part of a fad mentality. I see the same sort of thing at work (a college), when students enroll into a course that sounds really exciting only to stop attending, then drop the course, when it becomes clear that it isn't all fun and games. Perhaps it is human nature to do things in such a way.
But, many new beekeepers (and college students) do wind up going all in and do take the time to learn, make mistakes, and deal with the unexpected issues that arise. They seem to have an idea of what they would like to accomplish in the near and long term. If that is true, then I think that after the 'fad' phase is over, if it does end, there will still be more beeks around than there would have been without the fad mentality. They'll need additional, more in-depth advice from those who have already blazed the trail. I don't know when that will be, but we will need you.
More of my thinking on the topic has to do with what I imagine long term beeks are experiencing now that the demand for frames, foundation, packages, etc. is increased. Here we have a group of people, some of whom are commercial, having to compete for supplies with a host of newbees on top of everything else that they have to deal with. I also wonder how some of the suppliers will do when the fad phase wears off and the demand for new equipment wanes.