That is what we call fashion. With the bandwidth and CPU/monitor power, the utility part is no longer in focus, so fashion part dominates.
Fashion do not need to make sense. Sensible folks (the minority part of family) may choose to ignore fashion; but if you are criticizing fashion (with seriousness), then you are in the wrong game.
Things can be fashionable, yet crisp and usable. Things can also be crazy, stupid (to most), and groundbreaking (to a few). Put another way, fashion currently dominates, but that would be okay since we don't need to sacrifice good visual design in the name of performance any more.
Unfortunately:
* People get lazy.
* People don't user test.
* People like to follow trends.
* Designers and developers get micromanaged.
...along with all of the other monkey wrenches that most developers and designers have gotten used to. People end up building cool-looking websites that aren't as usable as they should be.
On the other hand the creative, intellectual minority that wants and needs fast access to information is left behind which is a cultural and economic collateral damage of fashion.
Fashion do not need to make sense. Sensible folks (the minority part of family) may choose to ignore fashion; but if you are criticizing fashion (with seriousness), then you are in the wrong game.