That's what angers me about these articles. Millennials graduated high school to the Dot Com burst. We took out a bunch of student loans after not being able to find any work, graduated to the great recession. Spent a decade trying to pay down our student loans to 0 effect. Then got hit with the pandemic. We've given up on there being a future. Why the fuck should I put money in a 401k to prop up billionaires' fortunes? My wages are never going to be enough to retire. I might as well have some fun now while my body isn't completely broken.
It hadn't ever occurred to me to look for pirated patterns :D Here are some sites with a ton of free patterns.
https://www.allfreesewing.com/
https://vintagepatterns.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
https://sewingsupport.com/
https://threadsmonthly.com/free-sewing-patterns/
https://lovesewing.com/free-sewing-patterns-projects/
Z-Library also has a ton of stuff.