Where does this idea come from that supposedly 40 years ago we lived large at age 20?

I'm continually fascinated by this General belief among young people today that seems to think that those of us that are say 55 and older somehow had it easy working low-level jobs. When I was 18 years old I was working full-time and I wasn't making minimum wage(night stock paid better than min wage) I was a night stock guy at a grocery store back when that was a thing. The furniture in my first apartment was the following. A double bed that had been mine since I was about 9 years old that my parents let me take. A futon I bought at a used furniture store that was possibly the ugliest piece of furniture you've ever seen. A TV stand about the size of your typical nightstand that I got at a yard sale. I didn't have a dresser so I bought cubicles at some place like Kmart or something that I put together and that's where my clothes went. My theoretical dining room table was literally a cable roll that some friend with a truck helped me hijack from a construction site. Oh I forgot my TV. A 13-in black and white with antenna. And no I'm not 80 years old this shite was in the late '80s and trust me black and white TVs were no longer really a thing. I couldn't afford cable so I survived with the three channels my antenna could get. All of this while driving a two door Toyota Tercel with vinyl seats 4 Speed air condition but no stereo. My apartment was perfectly clean but it was less than 400 square feet. If you asked young people today to live like that they would have a complete fricking meltdown. But almost everybody I knew was living like that. I don't know who's telling these stupid fricks the fairy tales they are believing but it's downright comical to hear.

Edit to add.......... I think one of the fundamental problems is that Young people think they are supposed to be able to move out and keep all of the Conveniences of the day. Like you're supposed to be able to have that average apartment but also still have one of the newer cell phones. Have a decent computer. Have high-speed internet access. Drive a relatively okay car etc etc. Well trust me even in the late 80s color TV was pretty much expected along with cable. And it was pretty much expected that you had stereo in your car. I couldn't afford those things so I didn't have them. Go get your average apartment in a less than great neighborhood. And survive on a 6 year old used phone from Amazon. And stop updating your computers every 3 years! And drive a 10 year old beater