I guess we were stingier back then. Today, there's no real need to even listen. Just turn your computer on and thousands of DX tidbits materialize on the screen in front of you and simultaneously on the SCREENS OF THOUSANDS OF OTHER NON-LISTENERS. You don't even have to copy the call. It's all right in front of you...call, time, frequency and comments.
You still need to be able to operate, but yes, monitoring the bands for hours on end is not really a thing any more, unless that's what you enjoy. We're in the information age, and have been for at least 25 years. From packet to telnet clusters and beyond. Do you think that back in the 60s and 70s, had that information been available back then, even with the difficult licensing, 20 WPM code and all that, that folks wouldn't have gone crazy working more bands and modes? It just is what it is, and folks are free to set their own limitations.
But those who don't know how to operate, they'll always lose out on the DX, and it's been that way forever. Even on FT8, where you have to understand the software, the radio interface, and how to call properly. It's just all different now than it was in the Hollow State era. Neither better nor worse, just different, and that was the point of the story I posted to lead off the topic.
I'm fine with the DX information firehose in principle, but the implementation is grossly lacking. Why the cluster network still runs with anonymous entries is beyond me. There's still no excellent source of actionable local intelligence for ferreting out legitimate spots from a sea of robotic noise. Some might even argue it's harder now because of too much information.
As for the pathological behaviour, just blame society in general and the dissolution of civilized discourse and conduct. It's all about the ME, never about the US. I got into DXing with just 100W and a wire out the window of my apartment in Queens back in 2001, and didn't get my first tower until 2005. DXpeditions were just as bad then as they are now in terms of DQRM. The rarer the entity the worse it was. PW0T was the first DXpedition that I really chased and it was horrible for the first week. I think the biggest zoos I've personally witnessed were Scarborough Reef in 2007 and IIRC either Glorioso or TO4E on Juan de Nova. Biggies like Peter 1, Malpelo, Heard Island, and Amsterdam had their problems but because they were loud and on multiple bands and modes at the same time, the problems subsided quickly. Generally the weaker the DX, and the more uncertaity about ever getting permission or having the ability to go back there, the crazier people become.