Dude I'm born in the 80s! I am well aware there was a crash but.. I cannot recall a single thing that affected me or anyone else I am close to. Note that I'm not in the US though.
"South Africa entered its first recession in 17 years in late 2008.... with nearly one million jobs lost by 2009, pushing the unemployment rate to roughly 24%."
That's 24% of your own country that you "are not close to", and therefore don't care about.
While I was jobless for 18 months, I met someone in the storage locker, late at night, who was SO EAGER to chat. Kept talking to me for an hour while I boxed and stored my junk that wouldn't fit in my tiny, cheap rental housing.
I realized that the storage unit was heated, with unmetered power (if you rented a power-supplied unit) and a working restroom.
He was so chatty because (I realized) he was living there. And desperate for social contact.
I let him talk to me, because I'm not a solipsistic asshole who thinks the Great Recession of 2008 didn't affect people.