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the very same reason newspapers have columns and not full width text.

Newspapers also do not have 6-inch margins on either side.

Another irritation of mine is fixed-width sites. If I'm making my browser window wider, chances are I'm trying to widen the text, not expect it to stay in a narrow column in the middle with useless space on either side. If I wanted it narrow, I would've narrowed the window.

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Typography often takes into consideration the width of the text explicitly and how it influences the style and tone of the document. While I don't imagine that everyone is doing this, it is a thing. The nearest analog I think of is maintaining the aspect ratio of an image. You might still understand the piece of media if it's not in its original format, but that was not the intent.

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