Genuinely, we win.
Nothing could top Gen Z for me.
I was born to appreciate these things. I don't feel the need to even long to have been there – it's enough to know it was awesome and to hear about it from the people who lived it. And the story is still developing in a way since it all matters still, so we get to come to understand it all alongside those who did really live it. I almost idolize the people who are taking the time to thoughtfully record and perfectly articulate it all (i.e., Lizzy Goodman, Joe Coscarelli) as much as I do the idols themselves (e.g., Karen O, Paris Hilton).
No other generation had this much access to their own culture - or least not as much ease in accessing it.
It's very cool that people 10 years older than us were getting to be the early adopters of the technological advancements & interact with these awesome things when they were completely novel. But I think it's even more insane that by the time we were of the age that we could be a part of these online landscapes, they were fully ready and accessible to us. They were surely still exciting, but they were understood as somewhat commonplace to us. That's an insane introduction to the internet age. We win. Can't wait for all the articles and essays and books about the crazy formative experience of being born in 1997-2002.