Most people simply do not have the patience to spend 30 minutes reading something anymore. It's why magazines like The New Yorker are on life support. So, yes. "Had to."
I should point out that simply not reading a blog post that you're not interested in reading is also an option...
I guess it's a lost skill.
Social media brought us the age of 'the irresistible urge to proffer one's opinion on everything'. AI evolved that age to the dizzying advancement of 'not requiring a brain to do so'.
I noped out of this article because it was using 10 paragraphs to say nothing.