Why do gen-Z:ers try to claim a millennial childhood?

I'm a late millennial and I see it all the time, people born ~2005 trying to somehow equate their childhood with mine and my peers'.

You don't know a world before YouTube, iPhones, iPod Touches, iPads. You were babies when Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 came out. You were like 5 years old when the LAST Harry Potter movie hit cinemas. You didn't see Tobey McGuire's Spiderman in theatre, or Pirates of The Caribbean, or Twilight. You weren't conscious when Facebook was gaining traction. You were 5 when instagram came out.

When you were toddlers, we were going to High School-dances listening to Soulja Boy and Flo Rida and a little later, festivals where we danced to EDM like Avicii. When Covid hit, we were ~25, out of college, with jobs, while you were freshmen in Highschool. We're not the same.

So why do (some of you) so desperately want to claim a millennial childhood? Is it because you think it's prestigious to have grown up before social media and smart phones? Well you didn't.

I played NES with my older cousins and listened to a lot of 80's music. Do I claim to have had a Gen-X childhood because of that? No.

Imagine if in 10 years, someone born in 2015 starts talking about COVID and bemoans how difficult it was. They were 5(!), you were in High School, wearing masks and having to do remote Zoom-classes. How could they possibly know what it was like? They were only 5! And they'll say: "Well I remember COVID, my mum was wearing a mask, my experience of COVID is just like yours!". Well that's the type of energy some of the 2005-Gen Z is bringing when talking about Millennials youth and childhood.

I guess that maybe you haven't fully formed your identity yet because you're so young, so you're tempted to "borrow" stuff, but by the time you're 30+, Gen Z will be solidifed and it's something you'll actually be proud of, so don't try to encroach of what makes my generation proud.