Considering that the average page size (first load) is getting bigger and bigger there is certainly some truth to it. Pages are getting slower and more complex and I see more and more browser tabs take 80mb+ for (seemingly) simple sites.
I also agree that web site/web app is slightly different, but: there are blogs and sites that load, show a blank page, then fade in some animation/spinner while loading fonts, styles and more scripts and then slowly fade in the content. However, if something goes wrong (font doesn't load, JS blocked, etc) you see a blank page with a spinner forever. HOW is that progress? That's just awful.
I recently decided to start a little blog[1] using the static site generator hugo[2] and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. Well, you won't be able to load the disqus comments and have no code highlighting without JS, but that's it.