On Car Seats as Contraception • Hacker News Board

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#31

Post by golemotron » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:30 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #22

While I feel we need to be gradually reducing the number of people on the planet (can anyone point me to the number of humans earth can sustainably support?), I agree with what the article is saying. It seems to me one of the biggest things is the pace of change and potential for criminal charges. Especially considering that many people are likely breaking the laws (not just car seats, but supervision, etc), with no…

> While I feel we need to be gradually reducing the number of people on the planet

We are on that trajectory now. No need to do anything special. It's baked into demographics and unavoidable at this point.

https://quillette.com/2022/08/20/the-unexpected-future/

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#32

Post by throw003away » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:30 PM UTC

fps wrote: post #18

There are plenty of narrow car seats that will fit 3 across in any car. I ran 3 Diono Radians in the back seat of a second gen Prius and there was plenty of space. Car seats and cars are the least expensive part of raising young children.

> Car seats and cars are the least expensive part of raising young children.

Yes but cars and driving are so holy to people. While the effect discovered was small, it seems subjectively true to me that people spend way more time thinking about car and car shit than they ought to.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#33

Post by abracadaniel » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:30 PM UTC

They argue against car seat requirements by pointing out that they don't work as well for older kids, but it's precisely the lack of requirements that result in booster seats not performing as well. No one makes any that standout as better, because they aren't required to. Likely, you aren't going to get better performance without using a 5 point harness, but the market for something like that would be far to small to maintain, so we don't get a choice. I'm not arguing that we should require 5 point harnesses for 8 year olds, but I am pointing out that we didn't have the option to buy infant car seats, as effective as they are now, before requirements were put in place.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#34

Post by throw003away » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:31 PM UTC

burlesona wrote: post #16

This resonates with me. It’s beyond tedious to get the kids in and out of the car seats all the time, and needing to buy a larger car to fit more than two kids gave me significant pause. We eventually decided to have more kids, and the positives far outweigh the negatives for us, but to this day the hassle of loading and unloading the car to go places is the single biggest negative experience of raising children. It…

No post body was provided.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#35

Post by kingsloi » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:32 PM UTC

burlesona wrote: post #16

This resonates with me. It’s beyond tedious to get the kids in and out of the car seats all the time, and needing to buy a larger car to fit more than two kids gave me significant pause. We eventually decided to have more kids, and the positives far outweigh the negatives for us, but to this day the hassle of loading and unloading the car to go places is the single biggest negative experience of raising children. It…

My wife and I have a Doona (https://www.doona.com/car-seat-stroller/discover-doona), and we refer to it as a the Ferarri of push chairs. Loading and unloading the stroller (when using their base), is super easy, takes seconds, and we can keep our baby asleep while transporting to/from the car.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#36

Post by greesil » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:32 PM UTC

fps wrote: post #18

There are plenty of narrow car seats that will fit 3 across in any car. I ran 3 Diono Radians in the back seat of a second gen Prius and there was plenty of space. Car seats and cars are the least expensive part of raising young children.

It's car seats that are affecting fertility, and definitely couldn't be the cost of raising a child. /s

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#37

Post by DiggyJohnson » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:33 PM UTC

superchroma wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

There is so much vitriol in this statement. The declining birthrate is not as obviously a good thing as you make it out to be, and not everyone shares your cynicism on the state and fate of humanity.

Comments like these don’t add much value, but sure do inject a lot of negativity into these discussions of family and society.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#38

Post by jacobolus » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:33 PM UTC

AyyWS wrote: post #21

superchroma wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are whales full of plastic and the rain isn't safe to drink. How can adding more humans help??

Pyramids were built with slave labor. Poor sanitation lead to the black plague. Imagine if they all stopped having kids, because they thought Egyptian slavery would never end and the black plague was insurmountable?

Pyramids were not built with slave labor. This is a myth.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#39

Post by throwaway0a5e » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:34 PM UTC

greesil wrote: post #36

fps wrote: post #18

There are plenty of narrow car seats that will fit 3 across in any car. I ran 3 Diono Radians in the back seat of a second gen Prius and there was plenty of space. Car seats and cars are the least expensive part of raising young children.

It's car seats that are affecting fertility, and definitely couldn't be the cost of raising a child. /s

Money and time are fungible on a societal level. If you throw up barriers to entry in the form of time and/or money you will get less of whatever it is you're throwing barriers in front of.

Car seats are just one example of a barrier.

Re: On Car Seats as Contraception

#40

Post by DiggyJohnson » Mon, Aug 22, 2022, 3:35 PM UTC

nathanaldensr wrote: post #4

superchroma wrote: post #2

Quoted post unavailable.

Stop making something as wonderful as children into an -ist. While you may be correct that we have too many people, calling humans who want to or do reproduce--we are not unique in our biological needs to do just that--"natalists" is just a short hop to demonization or worse. Or have you already made that hop, perhaps?

Well said, I’ve started (tongue-in-cheek) identifying as a natalist just on account of disagreeing strongly with the unhinged anti-natalist perspective rampant in online culture. I also want to have kids, think it’s fine if others do not share this view, but don’t think it’s fine or healthy for others to spew insults at those they disagree with.