I agree. I have a UHD monitor and I get angry when I have to scroll to read the second sentence on a web page. That is not an uncommon thing anymore, and it sickens me.
Worse is that apparently Medium requires the stupid, and often irrelevant pictures. Apparently some numbskull decided there would be more "engagement" if an article included pictures. So pictures there shall be, regardless of whether they add to the content or not.
They are the photos of procrustes.
What is even worse is that they've started dedicating yet another giant pic for each item/link.
It is a theft of one's time. Normally when I see such design I would leave the site immediately but unfortunately I must actually read some.