71–80 of 147 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many people feel this way in their mid 20s, it often changes when you hit your early to mid 30s. Most of us don't believe that it'll happen to us either. :)
Maybe, but between dating skills and allocation of spend I may otherwise be committed to the strategy whether I regret it or not.
I'd also note that plummeting birthrates are also happening in countries that are known for great social welfare, lots of government support for new mothers, and a more egalitarian society overall, like Finland. A lot of people simply don't want kids. Kids take a huge amount of time and investment for about 2 decades of one's life, and that can have a large, significant negative impact on quality of life, especially…
A lot of liberal (in the classical, broad sense) young folks simply shrug their shoulders at this fact -- not everyone wants kids, so what? I think it's worth considering, if you're one of these people, that without children being born to liberal parents, the "extremists" of the world -- fundamentalist muslims, christians, and so on -- will inherit the earth. Of course some of their children will grow up to be libera…
This is particularly true because political views are to some degree heritable. And it's not just a hypothetical thing: many conservatives believe they can "win" if they just manage to have children and hold out for a few decades as the liberals slowly breed themselves out of existence.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I ponder this question myself on the edge of Gen Z and my life is simplified tremendously if I just essentially pause it in high earning young person mode. Money is abundant for travel and anything I want. I don't need to figure out dating. Means I don't need to figure out everything from conflict resolution to clothing. I don't need to struggle to buy a ton of housing. I have friends/a sister who will have kids I ca…
It's strange that other people will pay the burden of raising children that support your retirement. You might think that your earning and savings supports your retirement, but no. It will be the next generation of workers that actualize it. Money is just unit of account, it by itself does not give you a retirement. Only working age, working people. We've found ourselves in a very strange moral hazard. You spend your…
At least in the West, sexual liberation seems to have gone so far that a lot of people have lost sight of the fact that long term commitment is valuable in later life. Childbearing seems to be one aspect that's being pushed aside there, but it's far from being the only one. Children have always thought that they'll be young forever, but the age at which that changes seems to be increasing.
Anecdotally, people still want kids, they just think they can wait, and then for many it's too late when they realize they don't have time anymore. Fertility clinic demand is through the roof while birth rates fall... It seems to transcend culture so it's logical to think it's economic, but I think one factor is that we're indoctrinated about how bad it is to get pregnant, the importance of birth control, availabilit…
You ideally want to assess compatibility, move in with someone, get married etc before having children. Depending on the people that could be a fairly long process. Maybe you didn't assess compatibility properly or weren't committed - you're young and naive after all - so maybe there are a few takes.
If you put off all of that, mess about in your 20s, and only start thinking about it when you're already 30, then yeah, it's getting really tight.
Particularly so if you're a woman.
I don't think we can do much and I am not sure we should do much either. Things that contribute towards people not having kids (in any order): Prices are more expensive as a result of having more people (remember that for a long long time population was stable until artificial fertilizer allowed for pop boom) so people cannot afford to live off the father alone or with the mother having a small job only. corporate cu…
I feel like the col is just an excuse for people that don't really want them anyway. Throughout history people have had children with very little material possessions. Talk to someone who went through the great depression about how you don't have enough money etc. to have kids. I think we've just brainwashed ourselves into believing you need to be ultra wealthy to give kids a good childhood. If you literally cannot a…
At the heart of this people want to give their kids the same or a better life than what they received. People have trouble accepting a lower standard of living even if it leads to better non monetary outcomes. Just like some people choose to stay in a high paying job they dislike, rather than take a pay cut for a more satisfying job. It is unfair bar we place on ourselves.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I ponder this question myself on the edge of Gen Z and my life is simplified tremendously if I just essentially pause it in high earning young person mode. Money is abundant for travel and anything I want. I don't need to figure out dating. Means I don't need to figure out everything from conflict resolution to clothing. I don't need to struggle to buy a ton of housing. I have friends/a sister who will have kids I ca…
It's strange that other people will pay the burden of raising children that support your retirement. You might think that your earning and savings supports your retirement, but no. It will be the next generation of workers that actualize it. Money is just unit of account, it by itself does not give you a retirement. Only working age, working people. We've found ourselves in a very strange moral hazard. You spend your…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not clear at all. Perhaps people who don't want kids will die out, but if this is a cultural issue that affects our basic human instincts, it could be something that is extremely hard to fix. Perhaps in modern society, whatever you do, people only want 1-1.5 kids? If that's the case, without a radical cultural change, humans are basically going extinct.
>Perhaps in modern society, whatever you do, people only want 1-1.5 kids? This clearly isn't true because the Amish and Ultra-orthodox Jews still want/have 7-8 kids, and they live in modern society. I'm not sure about the Ultra-orthodox, but the Amish are certainly capable of sustaining their standards of living even if the rest of America dies out, so humanity wouldn't go extinct, it'd just become 100% Amish (and wh…
Give Amish and Ultra Orthodox Jewish women financial independence and see how many kids they have.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious: have you ever considered going to a therapist about this? It's not psychologically normal to never want children. I wouldn't be surprised if it was also co-morbid with other psychological issues.
Have you ever considered going to a therapist? Telling strangers that they need to procreate is not psychologically normal. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was also co-morbid with other psychological issues.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now do the TFR numbers for the "native" populations and you'll notice something quite interesting - that Japan is actually doing quite well.
The birth rate for indigenous Canadians is 1.5x the rate of Canadians overall, significantly above TFR.
Not trying to PC-police you, just sounds like there might be some confusion here. It wouldn't surprise me if the First Nations people of Canada have a much higher birthrate than the rest of Canada, for many reasons.