Indeed, i think we are in a world where numbers and specs matter little if the pipeline is under utilised, none of the numbers really matter, only performance.
People still look at specs as if they are relevant, especially when you have not too bright "influencers" like JayZ2Cents conflating IPC with Mhz because he doesn't know the difference, so 5Ghz is better than 4.6Ghz.
Or at least he used to, his understanding of hardware was at about the level of a Curry's PCWorld shop floor assistant. Tho i was surprised to see to see him explain Zen 2's lower per clock performance vs productivity as the intcore latency problem that it is and explain it in a way that a layman would understand. Shock!
He must have been sick of being called out for being an idiot and brushed up on his knowledge.
In any case this where people get their understanding from, tech reviewers with 2m subscribers, i think if you have that level of influence you have a responsibility to make sure you know what you're talking about.