I agree everything is kind of crap nowadays, but I also think that by 2016 we were already well on our way to the current situation. Adtech, social media, the iPhone (and subsequent smartphones), all were major contributors to the decline.

I wouldn’t call what we have now “dead” (though you seem to be using a loose definition). Exploitative, boring, harmful, sure. But it’s very much alive and sucking the life out of us.