I don’t think it’s exaggerated at all. Many urban dwellers in the US have never overnighted outside city limits. Camping trips and boy/girl scouts and such aren’t even on the radar. I would say that a significant number of people don’t even understand what the night sky looks like—to them, it’s always been a gray/orange fog with a few dozen faint stars. So there’s not even a concept of what they’re missing.
You're so right. I grew up a couple of miles outside a small Midwest city, and then that was enough to hide a lot of the dim stars. Being in the middle of the Pacific ocean at night, and caught been the phosphorescent bacteria churned up behind us and the Milky Way above us was the most spiritual experience of my life. It was so beautiful that I cried.
I took my kid camping in Joshua Tree last year and we spent a lot of time just taking in all the stars and waving at the occasional satellite zipping overhead. If someone's never done this, I cannot possibly over-recommend it.
