Why isn't it "ideal"? Visual design is mostly about personal preferences about what looks good, rather than serving any practical purpose. Yes, design also impacts functionality, but it mostly exists to make the user experience more pleasant.

If you ask me, skeuomorphism makes interfaces more pleasing to use than the minimalistic trend of the past decade+, where everything must be flat. It adds a visual flourish that replicates surfaces and materials we're used to from the real world, making interfaces more familiar and approachable. From a practical standpoint, flat design makes it hard to distinguish elements and their state, whereas when we had 3D buttons, brushed metal and frosted glass, this was very clear.

I think the pendulum is swinging back now, as more designers are shunning the flat look, so hopefully we'll see a resurgence of more human-friendly UIs.