I turned off my algorithm for 24 hours. Is this how social media used to be?

This is not how social media used to be. Without the algorithm there is no social media. What the author is describing/experiencing is a social network. There's no editorial voice/algorithm deciding what to broadcast to your eyeballs. It's just people who you've opted into consuming their content.

Social Networks seem to be pretty great while social media tuned for maximum engagement (rage) is what's driving addiction and polarization.