I like how you cherry picked my quote and left off the very next sentence where I said "Similarly, it's not for us to judge people who have chosen not to take any time off."
Let's not get carried away with what's being said here. I did not say that you cannot live while you're in college, or that you do not grow during that time. In fact, my reasons for supporting gap years is very similar to my reasons for supporting medical school as a post-graduate degree rather than one where you enter straight out of high school. Most people need time to develop, to season, to figure things out. Some people mature at an early age and figure everything out when they're quite young. That's unusual, and most people grow more mature and developed with time. If this belief makes me an "evangelist" that's fine, I don't think I'm preaching something crazy or dangerous here.
My point is simply that I think it's nice that more people are either availing themselves of the option to take time off, or schools are recognizing that these students bring many benefits to the table, or some combination thereof. I'm also someone to whom people frequently told to slow down, and I think most of them were wrong in that I was never in danger of burning out. I like working hard and pushing myself. However, I've discovered that there were other benefits that my gap years brought me that I actually really do appreciate and that I'm glad I've figured out before starting medical school. Gap years aren't necessarily about working less or abandoning one's ambition, though some people surely take it that way and that's their choice. For me, it was about allowing myself to be pushed and challenged in ways that were new to me and that I had a safe space and time for rather than in medical school or college where I felt like I was constantly "on". It was about giving myself a diverse set of new experiences that I simply didn't have in undergrad but I surely do now.
Many people would take this option over just blazing through the most grueling training they'll likely ever face. What many of us are saying is: you don't have to do it the "traditional" way--and in fact, you'll find that there are many enriching personal and perhaps professional rewards that can come from allowing yourself time to explore.