sam henri gold, the problem that textures, shadows, and gradients solve IMO is affordances. Helping the user subconsciously figure out what controls do. Most IRL buttons look like buttons, they stick out and you know you can push one when you see it. Switches look like they can be toggled. Dials look like they can be grabbed and rotated.

But in modern UIs everything looks the same. Buttons don't "stick out", you have to try interacting with the thing to see what it does. Everything is overly abstract. Non-technical people constantly need help with this stuff. And, yes, most IRL objects have *some* texture to them. They also cast shadows (thank god this part is back) and reflect light (but this is largely ignored for some reason).

The text on the right is actually a text input. You only find this out when you hover it because the cursor changes to the "I" thing.

p.s. wow, airbnb now finally has a toggle to show the total price? Too bad they lost me as a client because of the million fees for a much worse experience compared to hotels.