Yeah, this is one of those things that always bugged me a bit, or at least it did once I was old enough to view these kinds of thing with a bit more of an analytical eye.
It makes sense from a production and writing standpoint, but it results in what feels like a lack of depth to the world. Think of your friends and family. How many are fans of 17th and 18th century culture? Sure, we have more disposable income with leads to more popular culture items to consume than they did 300-400 years ago, but as we move towards a post scarcity culture, and then add in countless other cultures producing art and media, the vast majority of people have to simply be fans of 24th century media and art.
I think it does come down to an ease of writing, especially for us. When you're trying to put out a post as it approaches midnight, and you want to drop in a cultural reference for flavor, it's just easier and quicker to make it something from our own time period instead of coming up with something out of thin air.
This actually leads me to an idea. @FltAdml. Wolf if someone were inclined to work up some kind of list of various pieces of media for players to reference and expand on, as a way to bring in 24th century culture and media, would there be an existing venue for this? Would it just be a wiki project, or is there a "world building" group that handles the background world to keep everything consistent?
~Patrick