A good advice would be to probably skip all of these airdrops and focus on time and effort on more productive things. Most coins that are airdropped are worthless now and wont ever amount to anything, with 0 usable or even presentable products. Its just like faucets, it's going to keep you busy and reward you with close to nothing.
I barely agree on your statement but I think there are still some airdrops existing today with value though most of them are shitcoins. And I believe newbie can't focus so much on more productive things since a higher rank is required to become involved on those things. I advice you to find airdrops that doesn't need so much time and effort, I believe there are some existing out there, just find it. And it's fine if it becomes a worthless at the end, at least you don't work hard for it!
But it would be a regret if you don't jump on that coin that became valuable at the end! Who knows?
Definitely, airdrop is just a way of getting connected to the community. Look at OMG, they even have airdrops after they have completed their ICO. Also some ICO giving airdrops have a lot of potential. And needless to say, there is bounty campaign which give even more tokens. CND is one of the best example and yet it is still x2 at the ICO price.