The main reason for me is that it's intuitive/comprehensible (company shares profits with stock owners) and it aligns with my goals (create passive income) in a visible and flexible way. Other options are more abstract and require more specialized finance knowledge.

It might be suboptimal, but when you're planning your financial future understanding what's happening is important and I suspect is one of the reasons more people don't invest. My country also has different rules on how dividends are taxed.

The dividend income is cash flow so which isn’t tied to the future value of the stock. You don’t need to worry so much about timing when you need to sell the stock to get back the best profit.

Sure it’s not the best long term and in aggregate, but if you need an income then it’s a reasonable choice.

Dividends are taxed the same as capital gains in the US. There can be value to deferring taxes, but $1 worth of capital gains via say a buyback is worth the same as $1 paid out in dividends, net of taxes.