The old Internet, even with all its "unsafe" content, felt far more friendly than the modern Internet for two big reasons:

1. Everybody who was there actively wanted to be there. You could easily live your life without Internet access and most people did. This also meant you could take a break and disconnect without feeling like you were seriously missing out.

2. Web design hadn't been relentlessly optimized for extracting money from you. There was no A/B testing or engagement metrics. Commercial web sites existed but they weren't designed by expert psychological manipulators like modern ones. Amateur web sites were purely amateur in the original sense (something done for the love of it) with no possibility of monetization corrupting this positive attitude.

I don't see any chance of returning to that state of affairs.