3 ms·

Actual reasoning is widespread usage of birth control and family planning?

tonymet 2y ago
that's a component. there are likely 6+ core factors , and most of them would be controversial to mainstream journals & media.
- flerchin 2y ago
  Don't be shy
  - tonymet 2y ago
    [flagged]
- big-green-man 2y ago
  Since youre beating around the bush, allow me to start. I personally think affordability plays a role, but I think the driving factor, that applies to all developed countries and why we don't see people's pet ideas being common threads (socialized medicine will solve it! except in every developed nation with socialized medicine) comes down to hedonism, decadence and consumerism. People are living for comfort, entertainment, short term enjoyment, they're chasing shiny new things and they don't want to give that up to do something selfless like create good people. They don't want sticky hands ruining their new leather couch. Prices going up aren't the cause, they're interlocked intimately as a symptom in a feedback loop. People aren't having kids so they can eat Korean barbecue for lunch every Tuesday, and so they have all this money that they're not spending. Or were, because everybody figures they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of them, and that adds up. Prices are going up because people are childless and so are more flippant with their money. Prices and fertility rate are interlocked tightly and one does not simply cause the other. The only way out of course is that people accept a lower comfort level and buy only long lasting things that they actually need. But that's not going to happen, and that has a systemic cause too. I'd love it if you replied with your thoughts on what I've said, your 6+ factors, no matter how hard to swallow. I know for a fact most people reading this aren't going to like my premise that they are not having kids because they'd rather encase themselves in a constantly 73°F expensive memory foam ball, complete with genital stimulation and endless scrolling goggles. Scare some people off with me?
  - silverquiet 2y ago
    I don't generally tell people why I never wanted children, but when I see the "people are just more hedonistic now than ever in history" type explanation, I do feel that I can at least add my two cents, so-to-speak. When I was seven years old, I realized that there was no god, and that when I died, I'd simply be gone forever; my consciousness extinguished as though it had never existed, and that nothing mattered. I'd learn much later that this could be called experiencing the death of god and becoming a nihilist; pretty rough stuff for a kid in grade school. And it meant life was just a long slog of work, and if you're lucky maybe a bit of vacation once in awhile. But that was basically the plan they wanted for you - grow up, work, have kids to repeat the cycle, and die. I never could get much enthusiasm for any of it, and I could never imagine having to explain this existence to a child; I don't have any of the happy stories regarding loving gods and an afterlife that seem to get most people through. You'll find that religion correlates fairly highly with fertility, though I don't think there's any easy, slam-dunk causal factor that explains why people don't want to have children. Still, it makes sense to me that they have declined together.
    - tonymet 2y ago
      I agree and rank declining religiosity above any economic excuse
  - tonymet 2y ago
    Yes

that's a component. there are likely 6+ core factors , and most of them would be controversial to mainstream journals & media.

flerchin 2y ago
Don't be shy
- tonymet 2y ago
  [flagged]
big-green-man 2y ago
Since youre beating around the bush, allow me to start. I personally think affordability plays a role, but I think the driving factor, that applies to all developed countries and why we don't see people's pet ideas being common threads (socialized medicine will solve it! except in every developed nation with socialized medicine) comes down to hedonism, decadence and consumerism. People are living for comfort, entertainment, short term enjoyment, they're chasing shiny new things and they don't want to give that up to do something selfless like create good people. They don't want sticky hands ruining their new leather couch. Prices going up aren't the cause, they're interlocked intimately as a symptom in a feedback loop. People aren't having kids so they can eat Korean barbecue for lunch every Tuesday, and so they have all this money that they're not spending. Or were, because everybody figures they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of them, and that adds up. Prices are going up because people are childless and so are more flippant with their money. Prices and fertility rate are interlocked tightly and one does not simply cause the other. The only way out of course is that people accept a lower comfort level and buy only long lasting things that they actually need. But that's not going to happen, and that has a systemic cause too. I'd love it if you replied with your thoughts on what I've said, your 6+ factors, no matter how hard to swallow. I know for a fact most people reading this aren't going to like my premise that they are not having kids because they'd rather encase themselves in a constantly 73°F expensive memory foam ball, complete with genital stimulation and endless scrolling goggles. Scare some people off with me?
- silverquiet 2y ago
  I don't generally tell people why I never wanted children, but when I see the "people are just more hedonistic now than ever in history" type explanation, I do feel that I can at least add my two cents, so-to-speak. When I was seven years old, I realized that there was no god, and that when I died, I'd simply be gone forever; my consciousness extinguished as though it had never existed, and that nothing mattered. I'd learn much later that this could be called experiencing the death of god and becoming a nihilist; pretty rough stuff for a kid in grade school. And it meant life was just a long slog of work, and if you're lucky maybe a bit of vacation once in awhile. But that was basically the plan they wanted for you - grow up, work, have kids to repeat the cycle, and die. I never could get much enthusiasm for any of it, and I could never imagine having to explain this existence to a child; I don't have any of the happy stories regarding loving gods and an afterlife that seem to get most people through. You'll find that religion correlates fairly highly with fertility, though I don't think there's any easy, slam-dunk causal factor that explains why people don't want to have children. Still, it makes sense to me that they have declined together.
  - tonymet 2y ago
    I agree and rank declining religiosity above any economic excuse
- tonymet 2y ago
  Yes