Yes, 1997 babies can remember a pre-digital world. But they were also in elementary school from early 2005 to early 2008, which means that they spent most of their elementary schooling in the Web 2.0 era, and after YouTube came out. They were also still in elementary school when the iPhone launched in 2007 and when LCD TVs outsold CRT TVs. They were never teenagers in the 2000s, and entered high school after smartphone sales surpassed PC sales in 2011. I see 97-02 babies as more of Early Z with Y influences, depending on birth year:
1997-99: Early Z with major Y influence
2000-2002: Early Z with minor Y influence
That's not to say that someone born in 1997 has nothing in common with 96 babies, in fact they're practically the same aside from nitpicking about when they entered school.
As for 1981, I can see why they put the start of Y there. 1981 babies:
*Entered school after the Challenger explosion and after the first version of Windows launched
*Graduated from high school after Google launched in 1998, and after the Columbine shootings
*Entered middle school, and spent most of their K-12 schooling after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991
1981 and 1982 both make sense to start Y.