They can't and they'll deflect to who cares arguments about pussy like the guy who replied to you.
This is because the actual, practical reason for work is to make a LIVING. Being able to afford a car, a house, food, and healthcare. Retirement savings is something you will (or rather would) gradually build as you progress your career. Back when Americans had good work ethic, they would get all of the above for a factory job they get out of highschool. Want to be a fancy city slicker who doesn't work with his hands? Fine, go work summers to pay for college, aided by grants that used to be given out so freely at the time that some people made a career out of being students.
Said jobs are scarcer and do not give you all of the above like they used to due to the degradation of purchasing power while college has some degrees that bring you back to that wage bracket but require lots of investment (and most are a meme you won't get a good job from). Home prices in particular have ballooned out of control. If you do not get a LIVING when you work, why bother?
Zoomers are not all just lazy. Some are definitely spoiled and have utterly fried dopamine receptors from having an iPhone as a parent, but others are just too keenly aware of the futility of hard work to bother.