Yeah, they are not nearly as good. I've had pieces snap just from having them in a box, rooting through to find other pieces, they must have snagged. And dropping regular pieces on a tiled floor from table height, had the side break! Maybe I was unlucky, but that would've been unheard of back in the 80s.
Uh, are you sure those were Legos? I have tens of thousands of loose pieces and exactly one has been damaged in use (a clip that broke after being walked on).
I'm not sure what happened, but I've never heard of this happening. Are you sure it was Lego and not a clone brand?
I buy LEGO regularly and the bricks I get are very tough. Even dropping entire models I don’t think I’ve had one brick shatter. But it is possible the quality varies.
I've never seen them just shatter. They're not indestructible, but I think they never were. More complex bricks are probably a bit more fragile, though.