I actually didn't notice since there weren't gradients.

On one side what you are saying it's true but on the other side it rings like "it was better when it was worse" which I always despised in the past. It's hard to accept when it's your own craft that is being automated but we must move on. Otherwise we'll be like the mechnical clockmakers complaining about Casio watches.

No, this is absolutely just worse. The past wasn't all glory. There always were countless bad design patterns. But this is just bad. It's just the continuation of degenerative design principles that oppose information, functionality and control.