Nothing wrong with that 
I guess that all the complexity was abstracted away from me because I used Windows for years.
Very true.
I think that I will give CachyOS another go instead of trying other distros, the wiki page is quite informative and there are workarounds for a lot of issues I encountered.
Hooray! And you are in luck, because I just finished this Newbie’s Guide to CachyOS during the weekend, which should help you with your first steps.
I am actually trying to discourage [my kids] from spending excessive time in front of the screen.
I have a feeling that many of the problems I experienced so far with CachyOS were caused by me trying to fix things.
That is a very valid insight! Congrats on that! Not everybody has the courage to admit this publicly.
I noticed that AI advice isn’t often that good
another very valid insight that cannot come early enough.
it replied “you are absolutely right…”
That is what they do: lead you on thin ice, let you break in and then tell you “yes, you are right, you are currently freezing to death. How may I assist you next?” 
The learning curve is steep, but I think that these days it is good to have some technical knowledge.
That’s the spirit