Can you state the purpose? It's really not clear to me in digital. As a reader that actually likes to read, they are distracting, they are frustrating to accid

Can you state the purpose? It's really not clear to me in digital. As a reader that actually likes to read, they are distracting, they are frustrating to accidentally read and reread, and pull me out of the story. In digital formats, if these are much past the fold say maybe one to two screen lengths down, what purpose could they possibly be serving to the reader? I can't figure them out at all. You should reward the reader, not distract and waste their time with duplicate content.