It's a simple matter of subjective value. Most people just want to get the most out of the least effort. They don't have (almost), any ambitions beyond spending a nice time on a vacation or consuming the latest thing. Most of those who have at least some ambitions, are crippled by fear of failure and prefer to not do anything about them.

None of it is significantly affected by the generation they were born in. This is the way it's been for centuries if not millennia. Small risks and small rewards is a relatively safe and successful survival strategy, which is why it's so widespread. We are the anomalies.