Economic inequality was relatively low in 60s 70s, and economic growth was high in late 80s and late 90s. That seems to be a good backdrop for human flourishing, not just in science/tech but also in art, music, film etc. Recommend Piketty / Gary's Economics for more opinions on this.

A couple snippets from my own experience / wow points :

  - browsing bookstores was phenomenal, hand illustrated romance, fantasy and sci-fi covers
  - Turbo Pascal, Dr Dobbs journal
  - Wolfenstein and Quake ushered in the era 3D interactive games
  - shareware and file sharing on BBS boards, via dialup modem
  - tapes, then CDs, then minidisc !
  - digital watches, scientific calculators !!
  - double your hard-drive storage every 18months !!!