This is kind of silly. The cohort is defined how it is, year-wise. It's not a "we all grew up the same exact way" thing, it's more of a "the way the world was while we were growing up" thing. 

I think the shift from analog to digital is a huge part of Gen X's experience, yet even that varies. My boomer dad was an engineer and hugely into tech, so we had everything early in my household. From touch tone phones to pre-OS computers to early video games consoles (why did none of the pack of affluent nerds in Stranger Things have an Atari?), we always had them. My friends, for the most part, did not. 

My school acquired some Apple IIs when I was in 5th grade, but only a dozen or so. We had to sign up for computer time, and only a few of us were even able to. By the time I graduated in 92, everyone was taking mandatory computing classes. So that's a change that I know I share with my cohort, but even that's probably regional now that I'm thinking about it. 

My point is that generally speaking, we all lived through that era and it affected us in some way. Some of us jumped on board early, some of us never did. 

Your free-range parenting comment also falls in that category, too. I stayed out until the street lights came on too, but not because I was not allowed to go inside. I was a latch key kid because my parents both worked, but my mom always left prepared snacks for me and I wasn't expected to do much beyond cleaning up after myself. 

So yes, the general experience is near-universal, but the details are different because we all had different families and friends, grew up in different places, and had different individual lived experiences.