To be fair, this generation uniquely had a front-row seat to the evolution of gaming tech and the Internet. Only we intimately know both sides -what it was like both before and after the Internet took over, and what it was like to be there at the dawn of 3D gaming. Across the board everything advanced rapidly.
This meant that many fundamental innovations and design choices took place as we bore witness. Everything was new -there was immense potential, and we were hit with a barrage of different ideas and solutions. Some of them didn't stick, some did and defined convention for years. It was like an explosion.
Despite all the excellent software we have now, nothing will ever convey what it was like to actually be there. Personally, I feel privileged. The Internet, computers and the accompanying software (including phones, consoles, games etc, it's all computers and software) are a significant milestone of human achievement and only one generation got to see their take off and evolution from infancy.
Personally I think it was best early-mid 2000s. You had all the incredible 90's games easy to acquire, 3D gaming got a much needed performance bump, online gaming was fresh and broadband was getting more readily available. The influence of the internet was a lot more innocent -social media had not yet so negatively hampered our culture and no one worried about getting a VPN.
Having been there is a good thing, if you feel bad, remember countless generations of people both before and after you will have never had the same opportunity.