The main thing I like about the Internet is the exchange of information. Many sites make this awfully difficult or insane (download tens of megabytes to read a few dozen bytes).
There is absolutely the side of the internet you're talking about, regarding making things pretty, but it's secondary in my opinion.
Art and style is information. You (and I) just have a preference for factual information that can be transmitted via concise text and numbers and no bloat.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but so many pictures and "style" that adorn websites are completely unrelated to the purpose, design, content, or intent of the site. And I'm not referring to ads. A layout that makes things difficult to find or read or experience isn't contributing to the access or portrayal of information.
Youtube used to let you scroll through the list of related videos and read comments while keeping the video you were watching anchored. That's a regression in terms of usability and thus a regression in terms of "art and style".
There is absolutely the side of the internet you're talking about, regarding making things pretty, but it's secondary in my opinion.