Modals are, IMO, the literal worst UX element you can hate your users with. There are certainly valid use cases, but _absolutely not_ should be the default.

How come? I find them nice to allow for certain actions that don't really require navigation, and may want the user to easily return whenever they do anything in the modal or not. I understand it is historically bad due to accessibility, but there's more native support for it now. Assuming it is implemented with that in mind, is it still bad?

Modals are... modal. Popping up a dialog that requires interaction, while blocking access to the rest of the application.

Again, this is sometimes appropriate, but it's desperately wrong in so many places it gets used.

I personally don't find modals inherently all that bad, though they can definitely be implemented poorly. Does anyone have specific reading material on the problems with modals?