Idk what idea you have of genz, but we did all this too, but when we were much younger, like before 15, definitely didn’t have cars either.

I should note I’m not American though.

Hanging out in mall food courts especially and railroad tracks, but idk about houses, no one had a large enough apartment for anything other than hanging out with 4-5 people, and maybe playing call of duty or something.

I didn’t have broadband until like the age of 13, so circa 2009 or so, and then we would talk over Skype and I’d grief my friend’s Minecraft server to the point of physical violence on his behalf lol.

I don’t think anyone was “glued to their messages” or “tethered to monitoring devices” - my parents didn’t know and still don’t how to use a smartphone, but maybe that’s a third world thing.

In late teens, everyone was just busy as fuck with school, it was do or die. Friend didn’t, failed uni, got drafted, now possibly in a mobile crematorium somewhere in Ukraine.

By 18, everyone moved away and changed. I left the country, changed name, gender. No idea what happened to them all, but I imagine nothing good.