Learning more about it, it just seems like a very strict lifestyle based on very narrow beliefs, but sometimes I catch myself thinking that maybe it isn't such a big deal. Is this how people get sucked in
Yes, that is often how people do get sucked in.
The jws are, on the outside, very loving people, (and some are genuinely like that, but not all), who are trained to make people welcome to their meetings, and in the indoctrination methods of their religion. The watchtower organisation is very good at fooling people into thinking it is a benevolent, loving organisation with it's members best interests at heart, when in reality it is a high control cult.
I am happy to see that you have decided not to be a jw, emilyblue. Whatever other decisions you make in life, whether right or wrong, you are making the correct decision on that.
dedpoet