Have young people always been so selfish but I'm just noticing it more now?

Once upon a time I was young and broke. I rented a trailer to live in and lived on eggs, bread and milk for at least 2 months because that was all we could afford. We only used gas for hot water to bathe and to cook. The biggest purchase we did was buy a tv set and make small payments of 30 a month for two years. We just got local channels so we didn’t have cable. We didn’t even want kids at the time because we knew we could barely survive on what we were making.
Most of my friends where in the same shape and many as myself didn’t want to have children or pets because of finances. All of us waited till we were a little better situated. Or at least able to feed an extra mouth. Now, everytime I turn around there is another young relative who is barely making it and wanting children and pets.
Its one thing to get pregnant and keep it. That is really a personal thing and sometimes pregnancies happen even when you are really careful. But nobody goes, “Oops, a dog I cannot afford landed on my lap”. I seen this play out over and over and it never ends up great for the dog. Animal planet has a ton of shows of dogs that end up abused and straved because the owner wanted a dog but thought that food and health care would fall from the sky.
Are they selfish or unrealistic?