I have to name every single note?
No, you don’t, because the system will set a default title for you. You can leave the default as it is (untitled, untitled 1, untitled 2, etc), or use the core plugin Unique note creator to manage titles for you.
Books need titles, papers need titles,
… and so do notes, to make them identifiable.
I thought the whole point of this program was the links and tags.
File names / file titles are links.
Not only do I not need a title for every note, I really don’t want to have to provide one,
… again, every file needs a title, but you don’t have to provide one unless you want to (in most cases it helps to have user-defined file titles because they add meaning and, possibly, structure).
and I find the big field with ‘Untitled’ on it just irksome. Am I just going to have to get used to this, or is there a way to turn it off?
Obsidian > Settings > Appearance > Interface > Show inline title (toggle off)