I think its commonly cited how we "used to have so much customization" and now we dont, and i see that more as an issue with motivation over missing proper functionality. Android phones and iphones to an extent are extremely customizable in almost every facet of how you use the phone, and yet outside of social influencers selling an aesthetic no one really cares to take the time to customize. Even when entire theming libraries are available to swap fonts icons colors window styles etc at a tap, even navigating and selecting a pre-made is out of the minds of most people. Despite the availability, there will still be calls to "how phones used to have personality and style" and refer to old hello kitty flip phone designs, despite being able to accomplish everything it does on a modern device without needing to buy a specific piece of hardware to achieve it.

Why? Because I dont think most people ever actually cared about it. It became a "cool thing" to customize your MySpace or winamp, not something actually motivated by individual user behavior. The people calling for more customization options ignore the plethora of options available because what theyre wanting is a cultural shift, but everyone's attention is so divided that it feels like a waste of time to devote to something that doesnt bother you. You "miss" what you had despite never doing any work to understand it.