I wonder how much is to do with the excitement of a new hobby and how much is to do with people just having too much free time.
You can see the trend on here - people get a 1/2 plot, cover it with weed killer, divide it up with black plastic and want to plant instantly. Gone are the months and months of soil preparation, double digging and weeding that used to be done.
Its almost as bad buying/hiring in a rotavator, and turning all the soil over in an afternoon, although I can understand if you have a huge area, but how many actually do? My small patch here will take me 4 days to double dig and weed properly. Theres no point in sowing anything until the ground is ready for it. And there should be no time to sow as the ground should be being prepared.
Luddite - me ? Never ...