Yes! This so much! I spend time in r/gtd, and I see that kind of misunderstanding (“productivity pr0n”) not infrequently. People want a system they can use to tell them what to do, and that’s not what GTD is about. I usually reply with something along what you said, paraphrasing David Allen: GTD is not about getting things done; it’s about being engaged appropriately in your life.
My first implementations were clumsy because I wanted to get fancy with my system with sequential projects and deeply nested tasks (in OmniFocus), but I eventually evolved to realize that the book really was right. I use a fairly minimal system that hews closely to what the book says. The most liberating thing was understanding that I _shouldn’t_ necessarily plan all my future actions out. I can document things I know I need in my support material, but those aren’t next actions, and GTD is about capturing and clarifying next actions.
Another comment here mentions that the book sometimes isn’t easy reading. I can definitely agree with that. There are places where it gets into the details before it properly introduces a concept and why it’s useful. Contexts are widely misunderstood because of this. The book leads with what they are (tools, people, places, etc), and people conclude that since we’re connected almost all the time, we don’t have contexts. The reality is contexts are just filters, and they’re useful because they help you manage having lots of next actions.