Easier caves for new and early game players

While the new snapshot (21w06a) includes amazing and beautiful cave generation, it is very apparent that these caves are already harder than the nether in some ways. Mobs spawn everywhere and it takes a long time to light them up. Perhaps mob spawns could be lowered for the first ten days game time or something similar (like local difficulty) to allow early-game and new players to explore more freely for the first while, or glow lichen could be applied in larger quantities. Thank you.