I'm trying to avoid this feeling but how do I tell the difference between nostalgia and things actually getting worse?

It's complicated indeed, and sometimes it seems that society/societies make 2 steps forward and 1 back, and other times 2 back and 1 forward. Staying on topic, Internet "at scale" brought many many positive things but also enabled bad things at the same scale. But in many minor changes, IMO nostalgia dominates over being factual.