It is not only for you, this is how is set by default to preserve more battery. You can change this by going to Settings - CyanogenMOD Settings - User Interface - Automatic Backlight. There, under "Light Level" section, check "Use custom" then select "Edit other level". On the next screen, press and change the first three values of the middle row to be 45 instead of 0, 10 , 20... After press "Save & apply" and you're done. This is changing the minimum display luminosity under different conditions.
You should pull down notifications, and you'll find there the "power widget". There should be an option to enable/disable mobile data connection. If it is not, you may add it by going to Settings - CyanogenMOD settings - User Interface and under "Notification power widget" section you have "Widget buttons". From there you can choose what buttons to display and the behavior of some of them