I agree completely with you it's just a big grind fest. Tbh, most 50NL players and below really don't have a clue about game theory besides the most obvious stuff. My experience is that 100NL is the breakmark where you'll see that people usually showdown decent hands.

My experience is that from 100NL you'll need more than a mediocre to decent 1st level preflop and flop game. In general being less passive and grow some balls to bluff and snapcall a bit more does wonders.

For example, at 25NL and the worse 50NL sites I experienced that your implied odds with SC's and small PP's are big enough that open limping and limping behind limpers is more profitable than open raising and raising limpers.