I'm almost 40 years old, so I assume I qualify. I can remember a time before smartphones, "social media" and dating apps, but I grew up right when the internet was really taking off.
This is sort of a "timeless" thing in some ways, like getting punched in the face regardless of what year it is sucks, so does being incel.
That said, it was different in some ways because unlike zoomers, I had to learn the blackpill the hard way. I did a lot of cold approaching (and some warm approaches). You'd get in serious trouble if you did the amount of cold approaching I did in the 2000s today. Even then, I got kicked out of a mall once for cold approaching and got into 2 fights. Well, technically neither of them were "fights" as I just got knocked out once, and knocked a guy out on another occasion. On both occasions it was because I approached a woman who had a boyfriend who was there, but not right next to her at the time so I didn't know.
I can tell you Inceldom was far from "rare" back in the 2000s. I knew plenty of incels (in real life) back then.
Video games, anime, sports, etc. Basically the same copes a lot of incels have now.
Anyway, while dating apps certainly had an effect, I think people overestimate their impact on the dating market. Inceldom has always been a thing. Historically most men did not reproduce. This was the case even thousands of years ago, long before the industrial revolution. I noticed even in high school that guys were simps (I was a simp back then too), had no standards, and that even the worst looking obese women had lots of guys pining for her and had lots of options. Inceldom is simply a part of sexual selection. Men want women far far more than women want men, and this has always been the case.
Dating apps simply made what was already going on more obvious. Obvious to the point that denying the blackpill in 2025 is like being a flat earther.