I've been pirating shit since I was a kid, and I'll be doing it when I'm old. I started out of necessity in order to see certain things, when you're 12 and like Superman, you don't have a car or the money to go track down certain old issues that have no reprints. or know anyone with a copy of Lunar II for ps1 to borrow, and your mom probably isn't going to lend you a credit card to buy it on ebay. certain episodes of TV shows weren't on video or dvd, and who the hell knew when those specific episodes would be on again.
now it's a bigger mix of factors then just I'm a kid and have no other way to read/play/watch something. Sometimes it's that they're impossible to find or unavailable for purchase, other times it's only available on secondary markets for collectors prices, other times I just really don't want to support something but would like to at least check it out myself to form an opinion and join a cultural zeitgeist. I at least try to buy stuff I like if I can get it. If I really like a new movie I'll go buy the 4k disc when I can. Other stuff it's just cost effectiveness. I don't play a lot of modern games because for the amount of a new system and a couple games, I can mod or get a couple of older ones and load them up with stuff I couldn't buy directly now if I wanted to. Why pay for a ps5 and 3 games when for the same price I could buy a dreamcast, a ps3, and a Saturn, and stuff for access to every game they made for them on there?