My mom (border of gen x and boomer) explained all the references to me when I was a kid watching Futurama for the first time. Honestly, Futurama and seeking out information related to the references (either my parents would tell me or I'd look it up in the 2010s when I really started having access to the internet) is probably the biggest way I learned about past culture. At this point I'm explaining the references to my kid but he really is just so far removed from it. Because they're from like 4 generations ago and have been referenced so much since. Still interesting but I do feel like it, "hits different" as the teens say.