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EvilEyedPanda ,

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AFC1886VCC ,

If young Americans had financial stability, better mental health, hope for the future, etc. Iā€™m sure that birth rate would go back up.

Itā€™s not like people donā€™t enjoy fucking anymore. Itā€™s just that theyā€™re more careful than ever not to reproduce, because they canā€™t afford parenthood.

DudeImMacGyver ,

Uh yeah, thatā€™ll happen when we are financially ruined for life and facing an ever worsening climate disaster because of greedy pieces of shit. If we canā€™t reliably support ourselves, how can we support children?

Just what the fuck are we supposed to do with that???

Spacehooks ,

Wonder how nice it would be not to put 0ā€20% of your income into a 401k. Or the money I need to put into a HSA in case I get destroyed in medical bills. Or crippling student debt. Maybe that money could go into housing or children.

shikitohno ,

I canā€™t understand why anyone would expect most people to want to have kids. I can hardly afford to take care of myself, things look like theyā€™re only likely to get worse, and all indicators are that if I did have kids, they would be facing an even worse future when they hit adulthood. Why would I do that to them?

themeatbridge ,

I have kids. I love my kids, and being a parent is the best decision I ever made for myself.

I canā€™t say I would recommend it, though.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

I am also a parent who dearly loves my daughter (itā€™s her 14th birthday tomorrow!) but I donā€™t want anyone to have kids who isnā€™t willing to take the time and the effort and spend the money.

No child should be unloved or neglected.

3volver ,

Iā€™m very happy that I donā€™t have kids. I still have no idea what compels people to have kids these days. They must not know the things I know.

squeakycat , (edited )

Every now and then I see a parent having a tender moment with their child and I smile. I then reflect on whether my vasectomy/shirk of parenthood was the right choice.

I always come to the conclusion that it was. Perhaps when Iā€™m older I will feel differently but I just canā€™t imagine that in my life for a long time.

Default_Defect ,
@Default_Defect@midwest.social avatar

having a tender moment with their child and I smile

Worst case scenario for me is I go ā€œkidnapā€ my niece and nephew for a weekend and get it out of my system.

kromem ,

Completely agree.

Look at an ocean temperature graph if you are even entertaining the idea of bringing new life into the world.

no_comment ,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/2d303192-325e-4a08-ae9b-1d1baf981a9a.jpeg

whoisearth ,
@whoisearth@lemmy.ca avatar

Now letā€™s see 2022 and 2023.

Edit. Oh wait! Itā€™s back down.

https://lemmy.ca/pictrs/image/df64e00d-8347-4e6a-acbb-7d7aa85458cb.jpeg

www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/ā€¦/en/

The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) stood at 119.1 points in April 2024, up 0.3 points (0.3 percent) from its revised March level, as an increase in the price index for meat and smaller upturns of vegetable oil and cereal indices slightly more than offset decreases in those for sugar and dairy products. Although it registered a second monthly uptick in April following a seven-month long declining trend, the FFPI was down 9.6 points (7.4 percent) from its corresponding value one year ago.

GeneralVincent ,

Itā€™s not back down to 2019 prices

www.fao.org/images/ā€¦/home_graph_3_may24.jpg?Statuā€¦

whoisearth ,
@whoisearth@lemmy.ca avatar

Never said that but youā€™re right.

GeneralVincent ,

Just providing even more context than you did

Olhonestjim ,

Fewer people means increased wages. Fuck em.

Etterra ,

Even if I could afford to have kids (which I canā€™t) or believed in forcing anyone to have to be alive without consent (which is impossible), thereā€™s no way I could ethically justify making somebody have to live in what is probably The last century ever of human civilization.

derf82 ,

Wealthy employers shrug over falling standard of living and lack of affordable housing and food

hark ,
@hark@lemmy.world avatar

The capitalist class only cares about birthrate for productivity. Donā€™t blame us for not caring about reduced productivity when most of us get a tiny fraction of the benefits of productivity. Also, what happened to all the shrieking about overpopulation? Itā€™s all just fearmongering to drive people to act in ways to benefit the capitalist class. Iā€™m tired, leave me alone.

kromem ,

Itā€™s also dumb legacy thinking.

Weā€™re in the process of creating a labor force that threatens to put the majority of people already existing out of work such that we need to figure out how to restructure society in a post-labor era.

What the fuck do we need a high birthrate for?

Today ,

My kids donā€™t want kids. Iā€™m cool with that. Itā€™s not my decision and Iā€™m definitely not interested in playing grandma daycare.

zalgotext ,

Neither me nor my sister really want kids, but my parents want to be grandparents. Makes for some awkward family dinners

androogee ,

Lots of single parents out there with no support.

Maybe we need a big brother/sister program, but for grandparents.

Facebones ,

Honestly I bet thatā€™d blow up.

Today ,

The decision is much too big to let anyone pressure you one way or another. Itā€™s totally okay for you to want what you want, and itā€™s okay for that to change throughout your life.

tootoughtoremember ,

Same, but they only want grandchildren as facebook sex trophies. No interest in babysitting or being supportive in any other meaningful way.

They were able to raise children on a single salary without leaning on family for childcare, so why canā€™t we? Surely nothing has changed over the last 30-40 years.

HubertManne ,

Definately not me. Im cheering it.

son_named_bort ,

Thereā€™s over 300 million people in the US, Iā€™m not at all concerned about falling birth rates.

JackFrostNCola ,

I keep hearing stories about falling birth rates, USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and on and on.
The articles often pose many questions about why younger generations dont seem to care about having kids, but very few articles actually say the real reasons:

  • Being able to afford a house or stable long term rent without either option competing for money to buy food or other essentials
  • Further to this the cost of a child once you can get by with enough money for the above
  • Climate change & future conditions for their children anxiety
ryathal ,

The real reason is more educated people worry to much, and less educated people just go for it.

RIPandTERROR ,
@RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works avatar

Too much? šŸ¤£

oyo ,

They have 17 kids.

TubularTittyFrog ,

A lot of women I meet dating think there is no point to having a kid unless you can you are a 8 figure millionaire. itā€™s absurd to me, since i grew up on a family income of like 30K.

ryathal ,

After having a kid, I can confirm younger is better. 5 years ago would have gave me a lot more energy, and not significantly less money.

TubularTittyFrog ,

education and healthcare costs too

HubertManne ,

im not sure I would call the last point anxiety. As existential threats go its not like nuclear war. Which might or might not happen based on our actions. Its something that is definately happening and extreme good action by us might mitigate it but we by and large have been taking worse actions or at best our beneficial vs non beneficial actions cancel each other out. Heck even without climate change pollution alone has the same ending.

androogee ,

ā€œapprehensive uneasiness or nervousness usually over an impending or anticipated ill : a state of being anxiousā€ -Merriam Webster

Nothing about the word ā€˜anxietyā€™ implies that itā€™s an unrealistic or irrational feeling. You might be thinking of phobias.

HubertManne ,

Its happening now though. Its like being anxious about walking down a dark alley because you might get the shit beat out of you as opposed to being anxious about the medical bills you will have while your getting the shit beat out of you.

HauntedCupcake ,

Climate change is happening now, but the anxiety is about how bad itā€™ll get in the future

HubertManne ,

yeah. I guess is are they not having it because of anxiety about the future or the fact its a reality now and the future effects are just reality. Is facing reality anxiety?

HauntedCupcake ,

Iā€™m just saying that accepting your definition of anxiety being tied to apprehension, anxiety about the climate is still valid.

I would say your definition is correct, but your application is extremely limited. The anxiety is about things getting worse, itā€™s a vague nebulous feeling that can apply 1ms in the future or several decades. Or even about finding out past information in the future (the unknown). Or just not knowing what the future holds.

So yes, being super pedantic, you canā€™t really be anxious about the literal state of the literal climate literally right now, but itā€™s instead about the possible future outcomes and events. But itā€™s very commonly understood that when someone says theyā€™re anxious about climate change, they donā€™t mean it in the super pedantic literal way

HubertManne ,

this has actually benn really interesting for me and im now evaluating how I think of both depression and anxiety.

androogee ,

They specifically said they were talking about how bad it would get in the future, and the future is definitely not happening now.

But also, pay attention to the word ā€œusuallyā€ in the definition i quoted.

If you think that one cannot be anxious about something happening right the fuck now, then you donā€™t know much about anxiety. Which is not a slam, Iā€™m mostly jealous.

HubertManne ,

Im starting to get it. the phrase just to me sounds like its more about a possibility but the replies make me get it. I definitely get anxiety from current circumstances although I guess both my wife and I were discussing that with our depression. Its not like it can be cured because it comes from our current circumstances and often you think about like diagnosis and medication and its like how is that going to help when there are external factors. We think of it as more anxiety/depression for no reason or for reasons that should not cause them.

The_v , (edited )

The first one is the main reason we could afford to have kids.

We were able to buy our first house because of three things. First the housing market crash in 2008-9. My wifeā€™s car was totaled by a rich bitch in a Mercedes. Our rented duplex was robbed and we had renters insurance. The combination of insurance payments and cheaper prices allowed us to purchase our first home.

My house payment hasnā€™t changed since 2009. It made up 36% of our take-home income then. Today it makes up less than 11%. I pay less per month than it costs to rent a 1 bedroom apartment in my area.

The older I get the more I see that landlords are a parasite on society. They extract huge amounts of wealth from the suffering of others.

Olhonestjim ,

Totally jealous, but Iā€™m happy for you. Iā€™m glad you get to own a home.

Facebones ,

I bought an old home in ~2016, Iā€™m 100% conditionally with the VA so was looking at fitting expenses to my budget. After recently upping my payment to pay it off for my 50th bday (36 now) its only $600/mo. $632 or something right now cause insurance sucks at the moment.

Ive watched as people have gone from happy for me, to jokingly jealous, to jealous, to cranky jealous, to ā€œIā€™m going to off you and steal your identity.ā€ šŸ¤£

This market sucks and we HAVE to get institutional investors out of housing. We HAVE to start building. In order to do that, we HAVE to stop this cultural bullshit of housing being the prime investment/retirement vehicle for Americans.

DarkCloud ,

Also, wouldnā€™t increasing the population cause more inflation. Like if you look at Japans decline in Japanese born citizens it overlaps with the ā€œlost yearsā€ of economic growth, which was a surprisingly stable period where depreciation ruled the economyā€¦ Prices for every day items were stable for decades on end.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

A big one is that pregnancy and child birth SUUUUUCK. Women finally have the ability to avoid it entirely, and I don't blame them.

OneWomanCreamTeam ,

Honestly I donā€™t think thatā€™s the biggest factor. I think a lot more people would be willing to go through the process of having kids, if they felt financially stable enough to properly care for them afterwards.

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