Yes, if the spread narrows enough [1], then the 'price' becomes something like a stochastic process that bumps around in real time depending on the instantaneous balance of supply and demand. This is probably better for the average market participant, compared to the old situation of demand piling up at quarters or eighths, and larger trades taking place at more infrequent intervals (with wider spreads and larger commissions for brokers and dealers). Price improvement and faster order fulfillment is the average case, but it doesn't make headlines because it's not dramatic and politicians and regulators can't drum up popular support against it.
Certainly, brokers' commissions have come down significantly through price competition (empowered by automation of trading). This is generally a good thing for a free market. Some broker-dealers may disagree because it's grown harder and harder for them to be the middleman and collect fees.
[*] $0.01 is the minimum because sub-penny pricing is disallowed for 'most stocks' on 'most trading venues'.
by reducing the bid-ask spread, hft shops are adding more "certainty" to the market - but that certainty could be (and is) sometimes wrong.
in other words, we're making financial decisions faster, at a cost of adding more more false certainty.
if the economy is a computer, HFT is overclocking the shit out of the processor.