5 ms·

> People are not having kids because they don't want kids. The US currently faces an inability to support a household on 1-2 typical incomes. This pressure pus

> People are not having kids because they don't want kids. The US currently faces an inability to support a household on 1-2 typical incomes. This pressure pushes away from parenthood. I believe a stronger reason(s) is that the demands on parents have massively increased while kids simultaneously lost most of their nutrients for social and internal growth. Between my parents generation (silent) and mine (genx), parenting time sharply rose. My mom's peers parented a few hours a week; I parented ~ceaselessly. Modern kids face 24/7 adulting. At the same time, kids access to 1) safe [from cars,adults] free range area and 2) adult-free social time went from sq miles to sq ft and from hrs/day to n/a. I argue that stripping critical resources from kids and parents gives us fewer kids and parents.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-experiences-of-u-s-adults-who-dont-have-children/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-exp... https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-data https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-... > Stunning stat: 64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men. (US statistics, contextualize accordingly) Certainly, there are potential parents ("fence sitters") who are opting out due to the economics, but the opportunity cost cohort is substantial and is important to recognize, as they will not be swayed with economic policy changes. The population boom and "demographic dividend" (the economic growth that can occur when a country's population age structure shifts) occurred because women were not empowered. Being empowered now, the neutral fertility rate is simply not near replacement (based on all available evidence). https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545397/empty-planet-by-darrell-bricker-and-john-ibbitson/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545397/empty-planet... (“Once a woman receives enough information and autonomy to make an informed and self-directed choice about when to have children, and how many to have, she immediately has fewer of them, and has them later.”) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30677-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30677-2 ("Our findings suggest that continued trends in female educational attainment and access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth. A sustained TFR lower than the replacement level in many countries, including China and India, would have economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences. Policy options to adapt to continued low fertility, while sustaining and enhancing female reproductive health, will be crucial in the years to come.")
- RestlessMind 2y ago
  So does that mean future will belong to societies where woman are not empowered? Because only they will produce kids who shall inherit the Earth. Sadly, I am not even sure if I am kidding or not. S Korea can be an interesting case study over the next few decades.
  - toomuchtodo 2y ago
    > So does that mean future will belong to societies where woman are not empowered? Because only they will produce kids who shall inherit the Earth. I assume this is a function of the ability to project force from nation states that observe and respect human rights. If might makes right (historically speaking), you should be prepared to exert force (or offer asylum at scale to women from countries where human rights are at risk or not observed). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_through_strength https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_through_strength
    - RestlessMind 2y ago
      Huh what? A nation may not even need to exert force if it's one of the few ones producing babies. Ability to defend oneself is a given for any nation state, babies or not.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - D13Fd 2y ago
    Well, there are two ways to get population - babies and immigration.
- WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
  > Stunning stat: 64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men. (US statistics, contextualize accordingly) I did read the context you offered and I offer this. The causes I suggest can be a primary driver while being fully uncredited. The reason is our new child-raising dystopia is our assumed reality. It goes unconsidered because there is low awareness of what historical parenting actually looked like. Stated differently, people correctly understand how massively taxing raising kids is. However they consider that taxation as if it were the ever-existant reality. They don't consider that [compared to now] raising kids used to be a trivial task most of the time. Historical kids amped up critical life-skills with their peers and away from adults. During those same hours, their parents worked and maintained their own social lives. Conversely, modern kids are ever-attached to modern parents and this severely limits everyone's opportunities for natural social interaction.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-experiences-of-u-s-adults-who-dont-have-children/ https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-exp... https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-data https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-... > Stunning stat: 64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men. (US statistics, contextualize accordingly) Certainly, there are potential parents ("fence sitters") who are opting out due to the economics, but the opportunity cost cohort is substantial and is important to recognize, as they will not be swayed with economic policy changes. The population boom and "demographic dividend" (the economic growth that can occur when a country's population age structure shifts) occurred because women were not empowered. Being empowered now, the neutral fertility rate is simply not near replacement (based on all available evidence). https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545397/empty-planet-by-darrell-bricker-and-john-ibbitson/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545397/empty-planet... (“Once a woman receives enough information and autonomy to make an informed and self-directed choice about when to have children, and how many to have, she immediately has fewer of them, and has them later.”) https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30677-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30677-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30677-2 ("Our findings suggest that continued trends in female educational attainment and access to contraception will hasten declines in fertility and slow population growth. A sustained TFR lower than the replacement level in many countries, including China and India, would have economic, social, environmental, and geopolitical consequences. Policy options to adapt to continued low fertility, while sustaining and enhancing female reproductive health, will be crucial in the years to come.")

RestlessMind 2y ago
So does that mean future will belong to societies where woman are not empowered? Because only they will produce kids who shall inherit the Earth. Sadly, I am not even sure if I am kidding or not. S Korea can be an interesting case study over the next few decades.
- toomuchtodo 2y ago
  > So does that mean future will belong to societies where woman are not empowered? Because only they will produce kids who shall inherit the Earth. I assume this is a function of the ability to project force from nation states that observe and respect human rights. If might makes right (historically speaking), you should be prepared to exert force (or offer asylum at scale to women from countries where human rights are at risk or not observed). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_through_strength https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_through_strength
  - RestlessMind 2y ago
    Huh what? A nation may not even need to exert force if it's one of the few ones producing babies. Ability to defend oneself is a given for any nation state, babies or not.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- D13Fd 2y ago
  Well, there are two ways to get population - babies and immigration.
WarOnPrivacy 2y ago
> Stunning stat: 64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men. (US statistics, contextualize accordingly) I did read the context you offered and I offer this. The causes I suggest can be a primary driver while being fully uncredited. The reason is our new child-raising dystopia is our assumed reality. It goes unconsidered because there is low awareness of what historical parenting actually looked like. Stated differently, people correctly understand how massively taxing raising kids is. However they consider that taxation as if it were the ever-existant reality. They don't consider that [compared to now] raising kids used to be a trivial task most of the time. Historical kids amped up critical life-skills with their peers and away from adults. During those same hours, their parents worked and maintained their own social lives. Conversely, modern kids are ever-attached to modern parents and this severely limits everyone's opportunities for natural social interaction.