Small things have snowballed. The Web became a fairly ugly place in 2015: Incentives to employ pageview bait and annoying advertising experiences have been too strong. Sticky, clunky experiences have become the rule.
The root of the problem is that the needs of the publisher have been out of whack with the consumer. People want to be able to access information seamlessly. Publishers need to make money. The friction is palpable and has been weighted in the favor of the publisher.
