Yes. I used to be on local BBS's, which was way better than anything I've experienced on the web. More of a community feel and fairly local.
Even the pre-Facebook phpBB boards were quite good.
But mostly, I think it was not having broadband. When I (and most others) did not have it, our online behavior was fairly different, and what we did was more intentional. Imagine you have a quota of only 1 HN comment per day. You probably will be a lot more careful on what you reply to.
But, you know, you'd just spend a lot more time in applications that are not your browser. Programming, producing art on the computer, playing games, etc. When doing any of these, you were not thinking "Hey, let me just switch tabs and check my Twitter feed".
I see my life of tech primarily as Pre-Facebook & Pre-Tinder & Pre-ChatGPT.
The further back I recollect, the happier I become =D
>local BBS's
Austin, Texas, was a wild place in the 90s. I remember Alex Jones came on PublicAccessTV, right after the toilet-bowl-seat guy, before the late-nite sex doctors. Lots of online discussions were had outside of walled gardens.