You are correct, i am not one of BTC's early adopters, but i am glad that i took interest in it when i found out about it, there are so many people that were misled by the media about BTC, and they lost interest without even trying to find out things by themselves. I am glad and thankful that Satoshi created something like BTC, and it can only get better for bitcoiners.
Yeah you are correct it will only get better, a lot of people missed out 10 years ago and has been regretting till date, but one should not be in that regret again because Bitcoin has not grown to it's peak and it has not even reached half of it's growth limit so we still have a lot of opportunity and time to engage in Bitcoin and make it big.
Some people feels is too late to engage in Bitcoin and this thinking will also lead to regret 6 or 10 years to come, Bitcoin investment will keep growing bigger and better and is wrong to think Bitcoin won't grow anymore.
And you are right when you say a lot of people were mislead my social media I know of someone that already started accumulating Bitcoin but later stopped because he saw a post on Facebook that Bitcoin will fall very soon and will never rise and he sold out all his Bitcoin investment without making a reasonable gain till date his regretting his actions.
Everything that has happened in the past should not affect your present, there's still time to start and no need to rush because Bitcoin still has a long way to go, start accumulating using the DCA strategy or any strategy you feel will be more convenient for you and you will grow and gain in profit.