Changes and/or omissions in macOS Monterey

My first introduction to macOS Monterey was with the purchase of MBP16 M1 in December, 2021. I noticed something rather odd that I had not seen on my older mid 2015 MBP15, still running flawlessly under High Sierra.

Many of the icons in the Dock (mostly "social apps, like Mail, Messages, Messenger, etc) always had a number attached to them, which indicates how many unread items are waiting in the app. This would be unread emails, messages, etc. I'm audibly alerted when something new comes in, but if I'm not at the computer, I could easily miss that alert and not notice the new message. As such, this indicator is quite helpful.

When I first migrated my data into the new MBP & OS, the numbers were always wrong, typically indicating a count that was two or three times the true count. But at least I knew there was something "in the queue". After the first (or second) update to the OS (probably the "critical security update"), these numbers disappeared completely. Now, the only way I can know for sure is to open each app and check individually.

Have others noticed the same omission? Does anyone know if this will be restored? Is it possible that the update simply disabled a previous setting that turns this on/off?

Any ideas and/or suggestions greatly appreciated.

svDrifter