in an age of perceived abundance, everything starts to feel optional. purpose. tradition. even continuation.
when nothing *has* to happen, most things just… don’t. https://t.co/fLW036er7m
in an age of perceived abundance, everything starts to feel optional. purpose. tradition. even continuation. when nothing *has* to happen, most things just… don’t. https://t.co/fLW036er7m
This is choice paralysis. Previous generations didn’t have many options so they stuck together through hard times and made it work. Now, abundance (or its illusion) has led people to feel less satisfied. People are now more anxious about making a choice and less certain that the one they made was correct.
When young people don't date or marry or start families, that's the bottleneck coming for the most basic human institutions of all.... See more
And when, because people don't pair off and reproduce, nations age and diminish and die away, when depopulation sweeps East Asia and Latin America and Europe, as it will — that's the last squeeze, the tightest part of t
Bullshit ahead
The decision to have children, which she views as the “ultimate vote of confidence” in the future, may also be affected by how optimistic people are about the state of the world,
Teddy Rosenbluth • Why Are So Many Americans Choosing to Not Have Children?
Our time horizons too are contracting. Young Americans are deferring or canceling their aspirations. Over the last decade, we have witnessed a declining birth rate and falling home ownership among young adults—and fewer business start-ups either by or for young adults.
Neil Howe • The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End
When the birth rate is below replacement, the country tilts toward having more older people than younger ones.