Remember when the internet was all goofy shit like this instead of algorithmically optimized social media angst?
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Waiting ages for basic serif pages to load over your 56k (or 128k connection if you were rich and had ISDN)? Nope.
Downloading tracks from KaZaa/WinMX/Limewire/Napster for a million hours only for them to be some warped shit that the studios planted? Nope.
Getting malware just for existing? Early software firewalls that burned CPU cycles/crashed your PC? That were the only option because hardware firewalls were stupid expensive and not at all practical for residential use? Nope.
Norton Antivirus? ABSOLUTELY NOPE.
Blue screens when you looked at IE or Navigator the wrong way? Nope.
Flash? Lol, nope.
WAP? The 2004 kind? Lol, hell nope.
"This page is best viewed on Internet Explorer", i.e. IE4/5/6 or it's basically unusable? Nope.
Having to actually go seven or eight o's into the Gooooooooooooooooooooooogle footer to find what you were looking for? Def nope.
Almost everything about using the Internet is better today IMO. Faster, prettier, more secure and more cross-platform.
You have to work hard to get hit with a virus these days, especially on iOS/macOS or Linux, though it's much harder on Android these days too. Also, I loved wasting my life on /., but Reddit is so much better, even after the API-pocalyse.
I definitely miss open messaging platforms though. AIM for life.
Napster was good because it was new. And the music was yours when you got it.
Never used NAV. Never cared to. Linux didn't need it.
Hated Flash too, and never used it. Internet was still great without it.
WAP was new, too. But Ethernet existed, and we wired our house.
Used Firefox/Netscape Navigator. Avoided IE pages like the plague.
I do malware research. You're grossly underestimating how common malware is today. Ever hear of ransomware?
Not everything on the Internet is better today. Some things are, but many are not.
And don't even get me started on the cesspool that Reddit is.