It's like saying maybe with the light off you could have done better navigating through theses rooms. Free learning experiences was available pretty early in my life because of ad suported content.
Maybe I could have done better in something else, who knows, what I do know is more learning experience is ALWAYS better.
You are repeating one logical fallacy: the fact that you perused ad-supported "free" content does not mean that there wouldn't be non-ad-supported "free" content without the internet turning into an advertising mess.
I've grew up on the free Internet resources without ads (banner ads just came to be). I've read free books on highly technical topics, on Mathematics...
Maybe I could have done better in something else, who knows, what I do know is more learning experience is ALWAYS better.