Why Doesn't Gen Z Want Children?
Contemporary culture keeps us all straddling a strange, intermediate state
A new survey reveals that only 55% of Gen Z and millennials plan to have children. One in four of those surveyed, aged between 18 and 34, has ruled out parenthood entirely, with the most common reason cited being “wanting time for themselves”.
Why this increasing need for more “me time”? A likely reason is that young people are now navigating an era of “extended adolescence”.
In recent decades, various shifts, from the rising cost of living to the expansion of higher education, have led to both millennials and Gen Z reaching traditional milestones much later than their predecessors. Millennials are living at home, as well as delaying marriage and procreation, in record numbers. Meanwhile, members of Gen Z are less likely to have experienced adult activities like going on a date, working for pay, learning to drive, or having sex, compared to teens in the preceding five decades. Given that many young adults still feel like children themselves, it’s no surprise that they are delaying or rejecting parenthood, choosing instead to extend their “me time”.
Modern culture also continually facilitates and encourages this extended adolescence. In our materialistic and individual-centred age, the pursuit of personal desires and self-discovery is often valued above all else, with traditional bonds seen as constraints…
This is an excerpt from my latest piece for UnHerd. Continue reading here!
(I also spoke about this topic briefly on Times Radio Breakfast on Wednesday. You can listen on the app if you’re interested!)
Feminism did its job. Generations of girls have been taught that all their wildest dreams will come true in a successful career. Then they hit 40, and it's "oh my God, I want kids". In short, narcissism, both male and female variety, is why the human population, at least for "white, educated" humans, is in a death spiral. With few exceptions, the decline can literally can be traced to the rejection of God and the natural order. Judeo/Christian ethics freed women and celebrated motherhood. The current pathology of "me, me, me" is destroying every industrialized civilization. Japanese kids embraced exported American values, as did Europe. Europe is in a population death spiral. Japan is already all but dead. China is not far behind. Thanks feminists. You won their minds and sentenced us all with your death cult of reviling motherhood and embracing free sex and female "empowerment", as if having a family was a prison sentence. Feminism destroyed everything that was feminine or beautiful about women. Way to go.
My 31 year old daughter would love to meet someone and get married, have kids etc. - she's gorgeous - a certified dietician / nutritionist (she has a successful counseling practice), a one-time runway model in her earlier days and still modeling when she can fit it in - YET, the guys she's meets are like adolescents. They want to spend too much time drinking (too much she says, as a nutritionist!) with their buddies, instead of dating - yet they of course would like sex if it's being offered. They are Peter Pans. It's pathetic. Her two closest friends just married Germans! who have recently immigrated to the USA...and just last week, she's met a Spanish guy who she fancies....not sure what this says about American men...