Various variations of this question are floating around. For example, I started working at age 14, etc.
My response:
I see your point (about having worked since your teen years or younger), but on the other hand …
Speaking as someone who, like you, remembers things were different back then.
For one thing, jobs didn’t suck anywhere near as bad back then. I mean the terms were a lot more human in a lot of ways. Even some of the really low-level fast food jobs I took, it was better in a lot of ways than it is now.
And there was always babysitting, and mowing lawns and such. Nowadays ppl are so litigious so I don’t even know if teenagers get to do that anymore.
For another thing, even with those teen jobs and pt/summer type jobs it was still possible to get a whole apartment by ourselves! Or at least a very big nice room in a house. And still have money left over to party and pay for some education. I did it many times.
Added later:
Plus with all the crazy stuff going on, wars and housing crisis and biospheric collapse and all, one can hardly blame today’s young people for wondering what is the effing point!
I actually salute people, of ALL ages, for working as little as possible, quite honestly. Enough “J-O-B” work to get by, and then use the rest of the time for your creativity and your REAL work. Whatever that is. Some of us are fortunate enough for it to overlap, which is a great goal but doesn’t always happen for everyone.