I suspect people view their childhood and/or late teens through rose colored glasses, they remember the isolated moments of joy without the surrounding context, I remember being stressed about exams, unsure about the future, unsure of even my own identity, plenty of other concerns, but sure I enjoyed a few sleepovers and gaming sessions with friends but when we’re remembering those days fondly it is from a safe perspective knowing all those concerns were resolved in a positive way, a survivorship bias, those that “failed at life”, became homelessness/suicide(drugs etc), aren’t here to reminisce with us all about the “simpler” times.
I think this is a case of “The internet can take the niche 120 people out of the 8 billion on Earth and make them seem like they’re normal and everyone is like them”. Loud voice, itty bitty percentage of the population. If you go to “car-fuckers.com” you’ll leave thinking 4 out of 10 men have sex with their car and that’s why shows like Top Gear/Grand Tour are popular lol