[crm9125]

I think kids nowadays likely still have a shared cultural experience like we did when we were young. We're just, separated from that experience. Just like our parents were when we were young.

Maybe they can't (or don't want to, out of fear of being embarrassed or feeling uncool/uncertain perhaps) explain to you how they find things, but when they are hanging out with their friends and are talking about similar interests, discovering they know about similar things, and sharing things they know about that their friends don't yet/learning similar things from their friends, that's where the magic happens.

[kaonwarb]

Anyone with, say, a fifth grader in the US can compare notes with parents elsewhere in the country. If your experience is at all like mine you'll be startled at the (odd to me!) shared culture. Especially if they spend time online.

[darkwater]

This. When we become adults we tend to forget how it worked when we were children. Plus, you think you remember but you what you remember has been already filtered by the adult's mind.

[Nasrudith]

Reminds me of a dynamic I heard about with the rise of music backlog availability. Instead of just 80's kids listening to 80's music you would see a wider array of eras that kids would see more internet era kids having a more diverse amount of preferred eras. Because they have more of a choice now.