Core Millennials (Around 1988) - thoughts on what we had as childhoods vs now

The the late 90’s, at least for the US seemed to be the last time it didn’t suck growing up. We had a budget surplus (can you even imagine, Gen Z?) Gulf War ended, the internet was a toy for fun or tool for knowledge but nobody really gave a shit about peoples opinions on it. No leashes for white kids yet (for the most part). When you left your front door you were truly free from any tethering.

No pandemic, no war on terror, school shootings and other mass shootings were historic events to us they were so rare.

We still had a lot of issues and obviously I’m not Including the fact that while perhaps small we have made progress on many social issues and I’m glad I exist as an LGBT person now instead of then but being a child of the 90’s always felt like we were the last ones who knew childhood freedom to make mistakes and learn from them without having a digital paper trail.