Why Don't You Have To Change The Drip Pan On Refrigerators Anymore?

Factual Questions
1

See title. I remember having to pull the pan of what I guess was condensed water from the air (?) out from under the fridge. It usually looked/smelled pretty gross.

I haven’t done this in years.

(a) should I be doing it?
(b) what was the purpose?
© why has the purpose seemingly been obviated?

2

You should still be doing it, even though nobody ever does.
Modern fridges blow the compressor cooling fan over the drip tray, so the water evaporates pretty quickly, but it still gets full of dust and gunk. Check it out - you’ll see what I mean.