I much preferred the Internet when it was a
place you had to go. A room with a computer. And maybe you had to wait for the dial-up connection, and you couldn't use the phone while it was on. And then it was slow.
I think it was actually better with a fair bit more friction. Most of the good stuff was still possible. It couldn't be as big a distraction as it is now. You had to decide to use it, then go to the place where you can use it, then wait a bit.
[EDIT] "So why don't you just live like that?" unfortunately, the entire world now assumes you have fast Internet available everywhere, at all times. Schools, employers, banks, everyone. Living like that today would be far more inconvenient and come at a higher cost than living like that back when it was the norm (or, before it was the norm, even—most households in the US weren't "online" at all until 2000 or so) due to changing expectations.