it’s like an engine being allowed to slow down after over-revving it incessantly.

That’s exactly what it feels like. I installed Social Fixer on my browser(s) to make FB at least usable for the few times I have to touch it for event coordination. People ask me what that’s like and I simply say: “Oh, it’s boring now. I only look at status updates for a few minutes and go do something else.” The pull to go back is just… gone. It’s as dull as LiveJournal ever was, and frankly, it’s better this way.

What did I strip out of the feed? Everything that wasn’t generated directly by someone on my friends list. That’s all it took. All the “engagement” is either artificially injected into your feed, or clickbait people pass along because their feed isn’t filtered.