Microsoft has been pushing customers to sign into Windows with an online account for years. It's the right thing to do.
There are still other ways to choose a local account in Windows 11. You can set up your PC with a Microsoft account initially and then switch to a local one. You can also turn to a third-party utility ...
If you believe your Windows desktop could use a boost of efficiency, you might want to try a tiling window manager, such as FancyWM.