First, forget everything you believe about hippies. The truth is that there were very few of them and I'd bet that nobody here ever even knew a real one. The media hyped them into legend status.
Second, forget everything you heard about drugs in the sixties. A very small % were getting high on pot and a miniscule number were tripping (mostly those counter-culture posers in NY, LA, SF). Most (95%) guys I knew on LI never saw a joint until 1970. That was the year the drug thing really started (probably because Woodstock was July '69). By 1971 drugs were everywhere.
Third, forget everyhing you read here about the boomers screwing the pooch. America got ugly in the sixties. The culture degraded significantly, opening the door for what we see now. But the average boomer was in 8th grade. It was liberal 'greatest generation' types like Norman Lear who opened the gates in the media and LBJ in the area of welfare.
Abortion was a crime.
Eighteen year olds did not have babies out of wedlock (at least in my world).
Parents seldom divorced (although many should have).
Everybody knew which girls were putting out and it was very common to see 19 year old virgin guys.
Race relations sucked and Black America had a legitimate beef.
Gay still meant happy.
Feminists could be counted on two hands.
No Mexicans.
Viet Nam Draft. Screwed if your number was called.
Assassinations.
Low prices.
A HS graduate could get work in a factory that paid enough to start and raise a family.
Everybody in the family could watch everything that was on TV.
Much less angst.
Much less technology.
Much more fun.....
That's a start.
One girl in my junior high got pregnant and "disappeared." (We never saw her again.)