I have to guess at the age range of the target demo for his article - I'd say mid 20's to low 30's. I still recall that time of my life. I had a car - a 15 year old beater van that ran because I spent a lot of my free-time crawling underneath it to put it in order. Tee shirts, jeans and cowboy boots were the order of the day (no trendy fashions for me).
My "Entertainment Centre" was a boom-box and a 13" B&W portable TV.
I did own music equipment and it afforded me some amusement, entertainment and a way of earning a few extra dollars (usually plowed back into more music equipment).
No home, no new car, no vacations - a vacation for me was a half-rack and a drive to the ocean for the weekend.
I was extremely lucky in that, although I made a few stupid mistakes, I never had need of a hospital, a lawyer, or a cop. I dropped out of college and went to work. When I went back I paid as I went so I incurred no outstanding debt.
Two of my brothers and (especially) my sister leaned on my folks to help them financially. I did not (except for a short stay when my wife delivered the baby 10 weeks early). I went without.
It was a life with struggles and low-rent expectations. It was the sort of life that should be typical. Millennials have unrealistic expectations. There's nothing wrong with wanting stuff but there is if you expect me to pay for it. They indulge in FOMO because someone else is picking up the tab.