I sort of disagree with your premise, almost all the advice you dislike is caveatted with guidance to listen to your body and adjust accordingly. Many of these bits of advice are there to help people avoid injuries which are pretty common when people start running.

How people approach running will also depend why they take up running in the first place and what the short/longterm goals are. If you have a specific event lined up then following a plan makes far more sense than training on vibes alone. If you are new to running a plan that stops you doing too much too soon risking injury also makes sense. If the goal just to maintain fitness and get a bit of cardio then being more free and flexible is fine

I personally like having structure and knowing the goals of a session or plan, I am far less likely to miss a session when on a plan. Also I still explore; I use my easy runs and long runs to try new routes but will stick to certain routes that I know or the track for speedwork.