• ameancow@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      I don’t think the causes are being studied nearly as much just showing the data that there is very sharp drop in people’s desires to have families.

      Socioeconomics is a huge part of it, but it’s not the only part. We could do a helluva lot more in the USA by just introducing even the most modest socialist programs like nationalized healthcare and more support for poor families trying to raise kids.

      Conservative pundits and nutcases like Elon Musk pound on this as a racial issue, people claim that it’s part of a “great replacement” but that ignores the giant hole in their claim that even in undeveloped and more socialist countries birth rates are dropping and people are becoming less social. Letting in more migrants may save places like South Korea (who presently are in the situation where their women have to each have five kids, and their kids each have to have five kids or cities will collapse) but it’s not a long-term solution because the places migrants come from are also feeling the effect of this mystery syndrome, it just takes longer to catch up.

      I have a strong feeling it’s going to be shown that population intelligence, fertility and happiness are directly tied to how much time we spend on the internet scrolling for interesting content or reading forums. Good content or bad, my personal belief is our brains probably weren’t wired to be able to handle reading and seeing so many conflicting ideas, thoughts and voices in a constant, never-ending firehose of content. I don’t think regulating or banning the internet is the answer, but we are absolutely going to have to change our relationship with it and we have to tear down the giant corporations trying to figure out ways to keep you glued to it longer.

      • DylanMc6 [any, any]@lemmy.ml
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        7 hours ago

        Are you saying that unless we tear down all the monopolies (whether by way of reform or revolution (or both)) and encourage collective action, the film Idiocracy might come true, but hundreds of years earlier?