> How many creative pursuits do you think the average person had throughout history when close to 50% of people died before age 5, fewer than 10% of people could read, women and minorities had close to zero rights, the average worker was impoverished and farmed sunup to sundown to barely eat and avoid famine, there was little treatment for diseases (infectious or otherwise), common people could be conscripted for war at a moment’s notice…I could go on.

That's an industrial age work ethic. Before industrialization made everything cheap, you couldn't just go to the big store and buy stuff, and as a peasant you definitely didn't have enough income to hire a craftsman to make everything you needed.

People have historically spent a lot more time than we do now making things they need themselves, or things for other people to trade for their craft. Shoes, clothes, basic tools, food, and so on.

So yeah, quite a lot it turns out.