4 ms·

>Most developed countries are already worried about declining birth rates Yes, because of housing, healthcare, childcare and education costs spiraling out of c

>Most developed countries are already worried about declining birth rates Yes, because of housing, healthcare, childcare and education costs spiraling out of control and the difficulty of getting well paying jobs to cover those costs are pushing youngsters to spend their youth and most fertile years hunched behind a desk studying and working to climb the corporate ladder to afford a home bigger than a shoebox in the sticks with a 30 year mortgage, not because of AI generated porn. Graphic porn has been around for over 100 years and blaming it now for falling birthrates has got to be the silliest things ever, up there with blaming avocado toast for millennials being poor. Present society is economically fucking the young generations for monetary gains, and they're aware everything is stacked against them, so instead of taking part in this impossible to win ratrace/squidgame, they choose to check out of the most expensive things in life (traditional marriage and having kids) and instead spend their adulthood on various hobbies and individualistic hedonistic endeavors (smoking pot, VR porn and anime waifus, videogames, being a perpetual nomad in cheap countries, avocado toast, lattes, etc.). All these things are the effect, but not the root cause.

wlesieutre 4y ago
> People shouldn't have kids if they can't afford them! People can't afford kids and aren't having them > shockedpikachu.gif
dcchambers 4y ago
I'm not saying AI porn is the cause of it, I'm saying it's going to be another thing added on to the stack of issues that already exist.
rohit2412 4y ago
I'm sure they play a role, but I have read that even teenagers are having less sex. I don't think teenagers are thinking about housing and childcare when not pursuing sex.
- matwood 4y ago
  I don't know about teenagers, but when I see stats like 20% of the men get 80% of the dates on dating apps it's obvious why people give up. To your point, there are multiple reasons causing people to have less sex and less children.
- comte7092 4y ago
  It may be the case that teenagers are having less sex, however I don’t think we should be too worried about a decrease in birth rates due to unplanned pregnancies. What matters is planned pregnancies, and to that, housing and childcare absolutely factor into that decision.
- staticman2 4y ago
  >but I have read that even teenagers are having less sex. This is a funny way to frame it. A lot of people are trying to stop teenagers from having sex. When I was a teenager the parents sponsored a "post prom" Carnival, I believe with the intent of having kids doing something with their dates after the prom that didn't involve having sex. Some religious people work every day towards the goal of making sure a female teenager's life will be imperiled if she has a medical problem as a result of sex. And will tell her if she doesn't like it, she shouldn't have had sex. Who is working in the other direction and trying to get teenagers to have sex?
mr_00ff00 4y ago
Jobs getting harder or bot paying well is a odd explanation of low birth rates. After all, quality of life is way better than 100 years ago, and 100 years ago people would have 8 children at like 25.
- bediger4000 4y ago
  Those folks in the past had children because the children paid for themselves beginning about age 7 or 8, and were an ongoing source of labor, quality of life or not.
  - mr_00ff00 4y ago
    This is a fair point except it would imply only the poor had more kids. The rich (who didn’t use them as a source of labor) also had much higher birth rates.
- comte7092 4y ago
  How is it an odd explanation? the opportunity cost of having children has risen dramatically, that tracks with improved quality of life.
  - mr_00ff00 4y ago
    So the opportunity cost in your example is the quality of life that you end up losing by having a child? The missing time that (with our higher quality of life) is way better? I don’t have any studies to disprove that, so I can’t argue against it. But then wouldn’t making jobs higher paying and life better make the issue worse? Now kids mean you give up an even better life.
    - comte7092 4y ago
      >But then wouldn’t making jobs higher paying and life better make the issue worse? Yes, which is what we see in the data. People with higher incomes have fewer children than those with lower incomes. https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-family-income-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-fam...
standardUser 4y ago
Cost of living is a factor, but the demographic shift we are seeing throughout the developed and developing world is well-documented and has many causes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition I know a lot of 20 and 30-something urbanites who don't plan to have children and I doubt cheaper rent or free childcare would make them change their entire life trajectory. There's a lot of other factors at play.

wlesieutre 4y ago

> People shouldn't have kids if they can't afford them! People can't afford kids and aren't having them > shockedpikachu.gif

dcchambers 4y ago

I'm not saying AI porn is the cause of it, I'm saying it's going to be another thing added on to the stack of issues that already exist.

rohit2412 4y ago

I'm sure they play a role, but I have read that even teenagers are having less sex. I don't think teenagers are thinking about housing and childcare when not pursuing sex.

matwood 4y ago
I don't know about teenagers, but when I see stats like 20% of the men get 80% of the dates on dating apps it's obvious why people give up. To your point, there are multiple reasons causing people to have less sex and less children.
comte7092 4y ago
It may be the case that teenagers are having less sex, however I don’t think we should be too worried about a decrease in birth rates due to unplanned pregnancies. What matters is planned pregnancies, and to that, housing and childcare absolutely factor into that decision.
staticman2 4y ago
>but I have read that even teenagers are having less sex. This is a funny way to frame it. A lot of people are trying to stop teenagers from having sex. When I was a teenager the parents sponsored a "post prom" Carnival, I believe with the intent of having kids doing something with their dates after the prom that didn't involve having sex. Some religious people work every day towards the goal of making sure a female teenager's life will be imperiled if she has a medical problem as a result of sex. And will tell her if she doesn't like it, she shouldn't have had sex. Who is working in the other direction and trying to get teenagers to have sex?

mr_00ff00 4y ago

Jobs getting harder or bot paying well is a odd explanation of low birth rates. After all, quality of life is way better than 100 years ago, and 100 years ago people would have 8 children at like 25.

bediger4000 4y ago
Those folks in the past had children because the children paid for themselves beginning about age 7 or 8, and were an ongoing source of labor, quality of life or not.
- mr_00ff00 4y ago
  This is a fair point except it would imply only the poor had more kids. The rich (who didn’t use them as a source of labor) also had much higher birth rates.
comte7092 4y ago
How is it an odd explanation? the opportunity cost of having children has risen dramatically, that tracks with improved quality of life.
- mr_00ff00 4y ago
  So the opportunity cost in your example is the quality of life that you end up losing by having a child? The missing time that (with our higher quality of life) is way better? I don’t have any studies to disprove that, so I can’t argue against it. But then wouldn’t making jobs higher paying and life better make the issue worse? Now kids mean you give up an even better life.
  - comte7092 4y ago
    >But then wouldn’t making jobs higher paying and life better make the issue worse? Yes, which is what we see in the data. People with higher incomes have fewer children than those with lower incomes. https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-family-income-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/241530/birth-rate-by-fam...

standardUser 4y ago

Cost of living is a factor, but the demographic shift we are seeing throughout the developed and developing world is well-documented and has many causes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_transition I know a lot of 20 and 30-something urbanites who don't plan to have children and I doubt cheaper rent or free childcare would make them change their entire life trajectory. There's a lot of other factors at play.