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The Phillips head screw is a plague on industrial society and an affront to the dignity of man. Its persistence is entirely the result of a deference to the lower castes. The American design was originally developed as a solution to fast production at the cost of precision.
The patent was filed in the 1930s during a time when power tools were beginning to be being used on production lines for speed and efficiency. The socket the driver interfaces with was given a geometry to ensure the driver cams out of the head to mitigate over torqueing.

In the '50s, the Japanese came up with the JIS head, with the intention of lessening the geometry which caused the driver to cam out under torque, putting more responsibility on the user to properly make up the fastener. Ironically, JIS drivers work better even on Phillips heads.
Another big inadvertent reason for the crosshaired head's widespread adoption is that it allows the user to use the incorrect tool for the job. The geometry of the fastener allows a wide margin of error in tolerance for whatever size driver you decide to impotently shove into it.
'Course, this only leads to more screws being stripped out, and therefore more frustration in the long run, as you now spend far more time working a bit and a set of EZ-outs, than had you just put your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tools back where they belong and grabbed the right one to begin with.

Or maybe it wasn't really your fault, it's just that the Mexican who installed your shower door couldn't have been bothered with what torque setting he had on his Ryobi, as he feverishly punched them with reckless abandon - a 30-pack of Bud Light howling gritos at him in waiting.
The truly superior screw head was invented in 1967 by the aerospace company Textron out of Rhode Island, called the Torx head. In a perfect world, anything worth holding down in place with a screw would be driven by this.
The important takeaway of this long-winded sperg post about fasteners is that the inclination toward abandoning and repudiating the American craftsman has been snowballing for a very long time. When it comes to the Phillips head, the medium truly is the message.

It's an inferior product in every way, designed to be disposable and with consideration only for the competency of the slave which first installs it, leaving none for those who must maintain its vulgar function. It should come as no surprise the Japanese hated it.
Next time you have to deal with one of these abominations, just remember that the reason you're having to do this is because our societal presumptions are:
1. Craftsmanship is dead.
2. You're a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idiot needing training wheels.
3. You're a poor who only owns a #3 Phillips
Many have brought up the important point about the material quality of fasteners, and Chinese metallurgy in general, which must be addressed as an important compounding issue. This is true, and further evidence of American craftsmanship being sold out from underneath you.