"Launched on September 5, 2006, the original Facebook News Feed transformed the platform from a directory of static profiles into an active social stream. It acted as a personalized, chronological digest of friends' activities, broadcasting updates like profile changes, relationship status updates, wall posts, and uploaded photos in real time." (c) Google AI Mode
The cool thing about the news feed that's missing from today's news feed is that it was similar to an RSS feed, where you don't miss things if you're paying attention.
Today's nerfed news feeds only show you what "the algorithm" selects, which is basically 80% platform slop that's either ads/promoted (paid for advertising) or "suggested" (also often paid for "additional exposure") and 20% your actual connections' content, if it's engaging enough by the platform's networks.
If your friend posts something that is not engaging enough, you'll be scrolling all day and still not see it in your feed.