The average user's mindset must have changed from when I was younger - mass hysteria over what people and companies online might be doing with your personal information was standard.

> The average user's mindset must have changed from when I was younger

Yes, for a simple reasons: the average web user today is basically the average person. The average web user 20-25 years ago was a technology enthusiast.

My parents have very minimal technical abilities and they’ve always been paranoid about putting any personal info on a paper form and that extended to the internet when things moved online. They always left the birthdate field blank on forms. I was under the impression that most Boomers grew up being wary of privacy whether conservative or liberal, and it was GenX and Millenial who would give their data to anyone.

It's good that your parents are informed, and care about privacy. Many are uninformed, so have no idea.

Then, like you said, there are those who don't care about privacy, even if informed.

I was talking moreover of the Myspace-era than the Usenet-era.