Skeuomorphism is, to my mind, just an extension of the original GUI metaphor of a physical desk with papers and folders laying on it.
I agree with others who pointed out Ive changed the UI for his own aesthetic reasons, often to the detriment of usability. Lessening contrast doesn’t make it easier to see things. Increasing whitespace to the point of having to discard usable information (I’m looking at you, Music.app that can’t even show the whole damned song title without a VERY slow crawl…) doesn’t make anything more usable.