I think this is at least partially true. And expectation definitely plays a role in churn.
But if someone joins, sees people whose success on steemit is mainly due to them being lucky enough to be early adopters, and then realises that they can never realistically hope to get anywhere near making a fraction of that kind of money - no matter how much time or capital they invest; can we really judge them harshly for giving up hope?
The small accounts actually have a great deal of value here combined but many spend their time trying to chase large votes rather than build a community around themselves. They should forget about the big whales and early adopters are and learn who they could be.
They do have a great deal of value combined, and if they ever organised to act coherently, even whales would learn to treat them with respect. Most people aren’t ready to hear that yet. This denial of reality is a big part of what maintains the status quo around here.
I remember just after HF19 a good whale saying, "the minnows have so much power, I hope they will use it well". Seems his hopes were dashed on the rocks.