Main suggested benefit of masks is to try to reduce onward transmission from you by catching droplets you exhale. There may be some protective effect to the wearer, in conjunction with other hygiene measures – handwashing etc, but they were never going to stop covid by themselves. At the height of the pandemic, in an unvaccinated population, anything that might reduce onwards viral load was worth a go, because even a minor effect would potentially prevent deaths and reduce the overall burden of disease on the health service.
For most people, they were only mildly inconvenient, and, as a community, IMO they helped reassure more vulnerable people, because they served as an outward demonstration that you cared about limiting the spread of the disease, and were prepared to do something to protect them.
