From what I could gather, currently there is a system-wide option to "Open social content in a new window" in System -> General configuration though it would be productive to be able to set this setting per user as this is a matter of individual preference.
That being said, while it is clear to me that opening items on a board with an iframe enables to quickly overview the sprint progress, I usually need to click the title of the item within the iframe anyway to maximize the available area of my external monitor. It is a pain on a desktop but even more so on a laptop.
Surely I'm not the only one experiencing this, so I hope that this could become a checkmark setting on a user level. Better still, it could be scoped per board, so some boards can be actively overviewed with the iframe feature while others are for in-depth work where there's a lot of text, videos, etc.
Recommended Learning For You
Level up your skills with Atlassian learning
Learning Path
Get started with Jira Software
New to Jira Software? These short, self-paced courses will teach you what you need to know to get up and running quickly.
The Beginner's Guide to Agile in Jira
Learn what agile, kanban, and scrum are and how agile works in Jira Software.
Realizing the Power of Jira Reporting and Dashboards
Use out-of-the box reporting and dashboard capabilities to view and assess progress and bottlenecks within projects.