The Age of Entitlement: Why Free Isn’t a Compliment

The Age of Entitlement is in full swing, and no one’s off the hook. Don’t point at Gen Z or wave your cane at TikTok. This isn’t a generational problem. It’s a human one. We all want more for less, or ideally, for nothing. And somewhere along the way, “free” stopped being a gift and started being a demand.

This hit me the hardest when a friend’s six-year-old dropped a truth bomb over breakfast. His mum asked, “What does ‘free’ mean?” Without missing a beat, he said, “It means it’s worth nothing.”

You heard the kid. Nothing.

Welcome to the Age of Entitlement, where value is based on price tags, not effort. Where creators are expected to hustle endlessly, bleed into their keyboards, then hand over the finished product like it’s a party favour.

The Culture of Cheap

We want everything on tap. Unlimited streaming, endless books, blogs, podcasts, art, and TikTok wisdom. All without opening our wallets. We don’t ask who made it or how long it took. We just want to know where the “free download” button is.

I’ve written entire books, which can take a year. Paid an editor, the cover and for marketing. Then I put it up for 99 cents on Amazon, because hey, entry price matters. I posted about it on Facebook, hoping my own friends might show some love.

Someone replied: “I’ll wait till it’s 50 cents.”

I laughed. I asked if maybe she’d buy it if I dropped it to 20.

She said, “You’d have to go to 10.”

I can’t remember where I buried her body, but I assure you the ground was soft and my patience was not.

How We Got Here

How We Got Here

The Age of Entitlement didn’t appear overnight. It started when we were kids, handed things without question, taught to expect more than we earned. We grew up asking for more, then demanding it, then forgetting how to value anything at all.

There’s a Paulo Coelho story I keep coming back to. In it, a father named Nixivan sends his son to the village to buy salt. He tells him, “Pay a fair price, but not too much, but never too little.”

The son gets it. The message is clear. Don’t get ripped off. But he asks, “Why not pay less if I can?”

And his father says something perfect:

“Anyone who pays too little is encouraging injustice. The cost of something should respect the labour that created it. Paying less may seem like a smart deal, but it slowly poisons the world we live in.”

That’s it. Undervaluing someone’s work isn’t just a crappy habit. It’s a quiet attack on human dignity.

The Price of Free

The funny thing? Once I raised the price of my book to $2.99, sales increased. Not because it became a better book, but because it looked like a better book. People assumed it had value.

If you charge 99 cents, people will treat your work like it’s worth 99 cents. If you give it away, most won’t even bother to read it. Worse, they won’t appreciate it. They might even resent it, because they didn’t earn it. And earning matters.

That’s the true horror of the Age of Entitlement. It convinces people they deserve something, without the messy part where they invest in it. Not money, not time, not gratitude.

A Note to Creators

If you’re an author, artist, or maker of any kind, think twice before handing your work over for nothing. Exposure doesn’t pay your rent. Likes won’t buy your coffee. And giving things away doesn’t build respect.

It builds expectations.

You don’t have to be ruthless. Just be honest. Your work matters and so does your time. Your talent is allowed to cost something. Even a six-year-old knows that “free” doesn’t mean generous. It means worthless.

The Wrap-Up

We all live in the Age of Entitlement. We’re all part of the machine. But maybe we can choose to treat creators, and ourselves, with more respect.

If you love something, support it. And if you enjoy someone’s book, buy it. If you read a blog post that made you laugh, share it. If you find a podcast that changed your mind, leave a damn review.

Nothing worth having is really free. Even when it costs nothing, someone paid for it.

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