I think you're missing the point. They can buy a small condo instead of rent a small apartment. When it no longer suits them, rent it and move to the next property. What you're advocating is an unnecessary spending of tens of thousands of dollars per year, essentially for no value other than independence.

If OP works (whether remotely or not), they can socialize and network just as easily from an apartment or their parent's home.

As mentioned earlier, the only loss is the supposed value of independence. Your life experiences have led you to formulate your opinion on the value of that. My experience and what I've seen from higher net worth people around me is that people with assets tend not to go this route, and think that the value of this independence is overvalued.

Again, I'm not saying to stay home forever, or to live at home at the expense of moving out of the area for better career prospects. I'm saying that if a person can live for free at home without much sacrifice, it makes sense to me until they can live in an asset and not a liability.