"The technology existed. But it wasn't ubiquitous!"

Whenever I see some version of this claim, I know I'm about to hear a late Millennial or Gen Z explain to me how actually, a given technology "wasn't really used" until about 7 years after I personally witnessed it become popular.

I can't account for every strange delusion leading to these claims. But one main issue is, when we talk about generations, we're talking about young people- roughly teens and pre-teens. So if you look up data on "how many people were using the internet in 2001", the percentages are often going to include absolutely everybody in the country- old people, Native Americans on reservations, blind people and everyone in between.

For example, one poll found that 70% of young adults aged 18-29 were internet users in 2000. I don't currently have data about teenagers, but given that most schools promoted internet use, I'd imagine the usage rates for teens in that time period was very high as well.

The real question is always: When did it become ubiquitous for teens and other young people?