Guitarist Brett Gurewitz claimed that Bad Religion re-recorded it because their then-label Atlantic Records said they did not "hear a single" in that album and thought the song was a hit so they asked the band to redo it.

When also asked why "21st Century (Digital Boy)" would be re-recorded for Stranger Than Fiction, bassist Jay Bentley replied: [We re-released the song] because we were playing it every night since 1989, '90.

We have a very democratic process which is that if 3 members vote one way, then it's going to happen, unless one member feels so strongly about it, then we all just concede and say that's cool.The lyrics of the song could be interpreted as a rejection of modern consumerist culture, as exemplified in the lyrics "I'm a 21st Century Digital Boy / I don't know how to live, but I've got a lot of toys".

This alienation and rejection of consumerism and mainstream culture is a common theme in the music of Bad Religion.

Excerpt from a 2010 interview with Greg Graffin in Scientific American:[3] Q: "Your most famous song is "21st Century Digital Boy," which pokes fun at our gadget-laden era.

The truth is that even though the song was written in 1990, it was clear that the youth were going to be affected for good and bad by digital technology.

Director Gore Verbinski achieved this effect by using various dyes and other substances to create the illusion that the static screen is made out of water.

The Dylan Ratigan Show, a television program on the news channel MSNBC, used the song as background music during a segment targeting "Facebook addiction".