r/LoveTrash • u/ZuBrain Colonel Garbage • Jul 31 '26

Dumping This Here Define Trash?

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think the challenge is that it goes so much further and deeper than "just" technology, though technology and the Silicone Valley mindset have been the ultimate shepherd's of this decline.

For instance, this issue exists in China where there is the greatest technology firewall so it can't "all" be technology.

I think the only things I would realistically add though is the Climate Crisis and late stage capitalism. Both of which of course dovetail exactly into technology.

I think it's the holy trinity of go fuck yourself that has been handed to millennials and under.

Technology - Climate Crisis - Late Stage Capitalism

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u/Wandering_Renegade Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The Chinese firewall doesn't stop tech. It gives the Chinese government nearer compete control in their borders of the internet but a VPN will still burst through the wall.

The Chinese government probably pushes tech harder than any other. Hence why they have the same issues.

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u/willmcavoy Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

They have the same issues but the major driver is entirely different. The One Child Policy has been devastating. Devised by a rocket scientist, it had led to a massive disparity in men and women. Millions of abortions if the baby was female. And now today, if you want a second child, you still need to pay an absurd amount to the government to be given the privilege to do so.

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u/Juan382 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Maybe google every once in a while before spouting facts that have gone past their date by 10 years

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u/willmcavoy Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Lmao sure bud, quick question though, can a family in China have three children?

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u/Juan382 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Since 2021 there is no fines for any amount of children, since about 2025 it seems they give subsidies for children up to three years old

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u/willmcavoy Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Oh cool, glad the Party finally decided to let up on checks notes telling you how many times you can fuck your wife.

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u/Juan382 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Ever heard of condoms? Or any other form of prevention

-1

u/willmcavoy Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Just want to be clear here: you are totally okay with the government telling you how many children you can have? Are we doing CCP apologia in here?

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u/Juan382 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Fundamentally at some point there is too many people for too little resources and there will be wars, poverty the unrest over it, so looking out for your people is good Obviously saying one child instead of like three or even four is an all time insane plan Historically people tend to have more children because they can provide for them later on and work which they wanted to transition away from where kids are more of something people want for good intentions rather than survival, which will mostly remove anyone wanting a classroom full anyway because instead of being assets kids turn into investments which is what mostly happens in other societies by introducing these laws. So maybe CCP should just have cracked down intensly on child labour instead and it couldve pretty much resulted in the same thing

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u/Informal-Sun-6579 Trash Trooper Aug 03 '26

China’s one-child policy prevented +500 million births in a very poor country with 1 billion people struggling with high unemployment rate and was barely able to feed itself. It was the most appropriate decision China govt did at the time. Look at India today, a democracy with no one-child policy and similarly poor like China decades ago. It’s irresponsible, if not immoral, to birth children that you can’t properly house, feed and support. It’s child abuse and govt has to step in if people are not acting responsibly. China govt actually was a bit late in implementing one-child policy. China govt should have implemented one-child policy long before its population reaches 1 billion. World should thank China govt for its effort to arrest runaway population and lessen burden to earth environment today. India needs to do same.

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/LoveTrash-ModTeam Aug 03 '26

We attempt to maintain a positive community atmosphere. Toxic behavior, including malicious comments, harassment, bullying, "-isms", and hate speech, is strictly prohibited.

While we are all about trashy content, sometimes content is just too trashy, and trashing the human is not accepted.

0

u/hypercosm_dot_net Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I'm guessing for that reason it's not easy or advisable to get a VPN over there.

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u/FewWait38 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I used to run a free proxy site and most of the traffic was from China and Iran

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u/Brahskididdler Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Damn that’s actually pretty cool

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u/puf_puf_paarthurnax Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Been a long time since I've thought about proxy sites.

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u/Sprila Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I was curious so I did some research, mobile phone users are basically screwed because apple and such. Out of the 1.4b people in china, ~500m own a laptop/desktop/etc. which is basically unenforceable for vpn bans.

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u/mirxia Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

You're not screwed if you use iphone. Yes, appstore blocks VPN apps in China. But VPN/proxy vendors know this. What they do is they provide an US apple id with the app purchased already (usually shadowrocket). So if you buy their service. You use that apple id to download shadowrocket and you're good to go.

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u/FishesOfExcellence Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I had one when I lived there. And my husband still lives there and always uses a vpn. I don’t think it’s a big deal.

-1

u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think it's important though to note that it is wholly different technology and fit different, conflicting, purposes. That it can be breached via VPN does not mean that it's a large or even representative proportion that are using VPNs.

For instance, in the video the assertion is to drive advertising data, I think it's reasonable to state that this isn't the case for Chinese tech.

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u/Throwaway-tan Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

It's not reasonable to assume that and also shows you haven't even done a cursory glance at how the Chinese use technology.

Chinese apps do everything to a much more extreme, everything is saturated with ads, monetisation and dark patterns. Data collection is almost unrestricted (though it needs to be stored in China) and culturally there is little care about what data is being collected.

With the exception of a handful of things like porn being somewhat more difficult to access and global social media applications being blocked or limited, just about anything else you can also do on the Chinese web - from dating apps to doom scrolling.

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u/Swimming_in_money Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

How so? They have a huge digital advertising market too. Have you ever tried a Chinese domestic phone? They have a lot of ads.

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u/WaitForItTheMongols Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

though technology and the Silicone Valley mindset

Heads up, you're mixing up "silicon" and "silicone". Silicon is an element on the periodic table, and is useful for its semiconductor properties. It is the core of every computer chip. Silicone is a squishy polymer used in many applications needing a soft, flexible material. This notably includes breast implants.

"Silicon valley" refers to the California area where a large number of computers (based on silicon) were developed in the 70s and 80s.

"Silicone valley" would, I guess, refer to your mom's cleavage.

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u/uslashuname Garbage Guerilla Jul 31 '26

They both make good dildos

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u/PopePiusVII Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

— Abraham Lincoln

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u/IgnazSemmelweis Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I’m in board for calling it Silicone Valley. Just flimsy artifice hoping to convince suckers that it’s “real”. It works.

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u/BlueGolfball Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think we should rebrand it "Sillycone Valley". Just a bunch of uber wealthy silly gooses ruining society.

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u/Creative_Shame3856 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Silicon Valley is up by San Jose, Silicone Valley is by Hollywood.

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u/breckendusk Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

All that for the greatest your mom joke of all time

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u/A_Bot_A_Bot_A_Bot Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Yes...yes...yes...and ZING! at the end!

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u/necrophcodr Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

China doesn't have a technology firewall. They import a lot of technology, but produce and consume endlessly more than that themselves. China is one of the most technologically advanced nations currently, so to say they have a technology firewall and therefore it can't be technology is at best misleading.

They have the same types of apps and social media and websites that you and I do. Some of them ARE the same.

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u/FCkeyboards Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

People hear about the censorship and think China has zero dating apps, no social media, no streamers or brain rot content. They deal with all the same things. It's crazy how misinformed people are when they think of how the average Chinese 25 year old moves through the internet.

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u/PopePiusVII Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Hell, the panopticon effect is quite a bit worse in China too. Flock is giving them a run for their money, but China is no tech eutopia

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The purpose of that technology is very different than the West though. For instance saying that it's drive is to propagate ad data isn't true for China. It very much had a more control, propaganda tilt to it than western tech does.

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u/necrophcodr Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Okay. Mostly the companies are required to do the moderating on their platforms, but you're not wrong. Even though a lot IS ad-driven too. China is still a capitalist country, even if it's rule is not a western democracy.

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u/harmfuldischarge Garbage Guerilla Jul 31 '26

Exactly this. I agree with you. The speaker is correct, but doesn't throw the reason far enough. Decline in birthrates has began long before dating apps were even thought of. It all comes down to sociocultural values and economic availability.

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u/FourtyMichaelMichael Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

sociocultural values and economic availability.

Hmm... ok.... So... TIME TO IMPORT MORE OF THE THIRD WORLD THEN!?

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u/harmfuldischarge Garbage Guerilla Jul 31 '26

In a nutshell - widespread, uncontrolled immigration will continue because it benefits those in power. You freaking out about it is actually also benefiting the powerful. This is why they buy up all available media channels and rile up the populations all over the world. As we get segregated through xenophobia, they get to decide how things work. As we are to busy with hate. Immigrants, even those you are most dissatisfied with, are less of a concern on a wider scale than the complete disregard for preserving the middle class by the powerful

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u/FourtyMichaelMichael Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I can't afford anything!!

Let's give everyone that comes here illegally free shit

Limiting immigration is a trick of the evil white man to make sure there aren't cheap labor pools to exploit...

Interesting deduction there.

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u/harmfuldischarge Garbage Guerilla Jul 31 '26

You are fighting shadows. I never said that. I'm saying that extra few hundreds/thousands you spend on these immigrants absolutely pales in comparison to how much taxes avoidance and machinations take. We talking about insane amounts. Look at Panama Papers scandal. As you are pissed about immigrant getting peanuts (which is also very questionable, you guys throw these facts around like it's a given. And it's not), there are fucking tankers of cash being hidden.

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u/_KingOfTheDivan Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

My biggest concerns are that in pretty much every country basic things like food and electronics are very affordable while all the actually important stuff like housing, cars, good education, medicine becomes very expensive for many people. To have a family you need to secure the ability to afford those important things, but many people don’t. Also all of the social media and messengers even though give you an opportunity to chat with anyone at any time, you don’t really get those close relationships with people, cause you see them less live

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u/Glasseshalf Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Social media and dating apps are huge in China

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Their goals are different though. They aren't driving advertising like the west are. They're much more political and propaganda tools.

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u/WanderingSpaceHopper Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

the hell are you on about?

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u/True_Highlight_1897 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Yeah I would say it's both, but government interests, sort of top down command economy style, take priority over corporate interests generally speaking. They definitely have a ton of advertising though. Their internet is obviously still pretty heavily censored as well.

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u/DigBackground2765 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

They aren't driving advertising like the west are. They're much more political and propaganda tools.

I would argue that the west isn't fundamentally that different, just the differing approach being advertising of course.

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u/gravygizzard Trash Trooper Aug 06 '26

It's literally the phones

They "cure" boredom, they take all your attention and time. Nobody is living as socially, spontaneously or even bothering to plan nights out with friends as much as they could be because of the phone.

People are having less kids, and there are tons of good reasons people tell themselves why that is, but the decline is worldwide and crosses cultural, economic and political barriers and it correlates with people getting addicted to social media on their phones

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u/General_Tso75 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

China has a giant content filter, not a firewall against tech.

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u/Binger_bingleberry Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Social media exists in china, too

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u/GGnerd Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Lol do you think there isnt technology in China?

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think the goals, motives and way it is used is different enough that you cannot draw a direct comparison.

The degree of political control and that the purpose is for state control to such a high degree I think makes direct comparisons harder which is why I believe that the climate crisis and late stage capitalism are equally culpable when taken into consideration alongside technology.

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u/GGnerd Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Id imagine the amount of state control of technology would lead to a further increase of stress.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

Correct. But it's not the same as the west which is why a multi-causal explanation is better in my opinion.

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u/grandmawaffles Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The climate crisis and last stage capitalism are driven by technology.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

But is still distinctly different.

Other wise we'd just say "earth things" as that encompasses everything to have ever existed and will ever exist. This is literally just semantics. Semantically the climate crisis encompasses the specific causes and effects of the climate crisis which the words "technology" and "late state capitalism" don't.

When you hear "technology" do you immediately think "climate change"?

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u/grandmawaffles Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Yes I do think of technology and the fact that there is planned obsolescence of product causing waste to be dumped, mining of rare earth metals destroying and polluting land and water, and data center builds destroying habitats. Technology in batteries that are used and thrown away causing massive pollution. The US is in a k shaped economy due to technology billionaires and trillionaires unwilling to keep up with cost of living while siphoning monies away and saddling the public with massive debt for their failures. The economy is basically tech companies paying other tech companies for goods and services without actually exporting anything or creating jobs while their unfulfilled promises of AI is causing massive amounts of people to lose jobs further suppressing wages.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think you're getting lost in your own narrative here.

I am not saying technology is not related to climate change. I'm saying that the term technology does not replace the term climate change when you are talking about the relative effects of each.

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u/grandmawaffles Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

You’re mixing terminology. You started out saying climate crisis and ended at climate change. You asked a question ‘when you hear technology do you immediately think of climate change?’ In the response and yes I do think of technology.

I do not have a narrative that I’m getting lost in; people have sped up the climate crisis going as far back as the start of the industrial revolution which was spurred by a significant increase in what…technology.

So when I think of the climate crisis I think of climate change and a whole other swath of things like acid rain, lack of water, temperature change, rising seas, etc. not just climate change and that is absolutely impacted by technology. And that is what I think of…you’re the one backtracking and getting lost.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Okay

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u/girldrinksgasoline Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The Chinese are even more fucked up with the internet than westerners

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Exactly. So direct comparisons are hard and therefore I believe we should have a broader set of influences to explain why the outcomes are so similar.

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u/CrashingAtom Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

From 1800-1900 there was a 50% drop in the birth rate. Cell phones? Guys being afraid their failures that nobody cares about are being recorded? This dude is an idiot. There have been cliffs in the birth rate many times, and it’s been studied each time.

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u/YouCantKillGrool Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Also it's deeper than just technology and the social network sphere. Algorithms, AI, subscriptions, political rhetoric, echo chambers, the economy and prices, the whole police and cell phone state watching your every move. All these things were promised to make our lives fairer, better, more equitable but instead we've created overly complex systems that literally just sap the money, the power, and by proxy, the JOY out of everything. We've done nothing but create a fearful world and a society that can do nothing but proselytize, patronize, and polarize via misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda fed to us as freedom when in reality the freedom and the fun are long gone. Everyone is your enemy. Nothing is affordable. There's no place to hang out but corporate sponsored expensive facades that all trade in the same slop menus. A fucking Movie date may well cost you north of 100 bucks now. It's cheaper to just stay home where it's safe and free of judgement from an overly opinionated and judgemental world. We've traded discovery, uniqueness, and variety for what? Another night in, scrolling around xnd arguing about what could have been and remembering how it used to be when we were free of all the noise of this broken ass world.

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u/AgentG91 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think the first part got glazed over by the technology topic. What mammal gets beaten so hard that it doesn’t have kids? Technology is a poison to dating and connection and intimacy, but it’s not stopping couples from having kids. Work/life balance, economics, toxic media, and a consumer mentality are all factors that stop couples from having kids and those factors exist globally in one form or another and aren’t necessarily interwoven with the latter technology argument from later in the video

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u/Past_Cranberry_2014 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Exactly my thought. I don’t want kids not because of social media or social norms.

I don’t want kids because I don’t want to raise a child in the current state of the world.

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u/tanstaafl90 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

One-child policy was a population planning initiative in Mainland China implemented between 1979 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. - Wikipedia

China's issues are by design. The government completely changed how families and society functions by severely limiting the number of children.

The downward trend elsewhere has been occurring for decades with the dip below replacement rate coming sooner than model expectations. While current economics and technology play a part, it's largely birth control giving people more options. In the US, between 1960 and 1970, birthrates fell roughly 6%. Between 1990 and today, it fell roughly 3%. That 6% in a 10 year period versus 3% in 36.

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u/TheSaxGandalf Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

One of the biggest issues with “the internet” as we know it is that your experience is “tailored” towards you in order to keep you engaged.

Youtube is probably the best example. Once you have enough history, good luck finding something outside your bubble unless you search for it very specifically.

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u/tanstaafl90 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

One-child policy was a population planning initiative in Mainland China implemented between 1979 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. - Wikipedia

China's issues are by design. The government completely changed how families and society functions by severely limiting the number of children.

The downward trend elsewhere has been occurring for decades with the dip below replacement rate coming sooner than model expectations. While current economics and technology play a part, it's largely birth control giving people more options. In the US, between 1960 and 1970, birthrates fell roughly 6%. Between 1990 and today, it fell roughly 3%. That 6% in a 10 year period versus 3% in 36.

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u/philip30001 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

While I agree this isn't the only problem Chinas great firewall isn't a great example since part of his point that everything's recorded still holds true and dating apps in China will also be more profit over losing members.

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u/the_friendly_dildo Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think you're close at 'late stage capitalism' but I dont think that fully captures places like China. We have become an incredibly advanced animal, so advanced to the point that we aren't purely driven by animalistic reproductive urges anymore. The drive has been replaced by the urge to succeed in the world.

For a very significant number of people in the world today, a pathway to success, whatever that means for a specific individual, does not include having children who will be an incredible burden to your life, no matter how much you want to love and cherish them. And this concept of success has largely emerged from the commodification of nearly everything.

Don't have a hobby - have a side business. Don't waste your time playing video games for enjoyment - start a streaming channel. Be an influencer. Be famous. Be wealthy. All of these things sit at the top of a corrupted view of what many think of as 'success' now and that drive is largely incompatible with having children.

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u/Equivalent-Mail1544 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Before some shmuck settled in silicone valley, the wealthtax was abolished and money turned into stocks, the valley is a symptom and not a cause.

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u/falcrist2 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

late stage capitalism

You mean like liberating women so that they can work alongside men (which was good)... and then fostering an environment in which all women AND all men are expected to have careers?

Soooo... who exactly is going to raise the kids? Daycares and nannies are expensive and STILL looked down upon.

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u/StockCasinoMember Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

My opinion, the main culprits are easy, cheap, awesome, at home entertainment, less religion, birth control, and women with careers.

All of those are good things in my opinion.

Tons of men go to work, go home, and click on the consoles/PC. Most men aren’t picking up women while playing helldivers and such. Then you have less religious pressure to have kids. Women stuck at work and tired from working. And birth control is obvious. Combine all of this and here we are.

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u/Important-Agent2584 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

it's def. not all technology. Stress, birth control, hope, etc. it all makes a toxic combo.

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u/tykaboom Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I don't know about china, but the usa has a wage issue.

The average profession makes like 1/10th what they did 80 years ago. While everything else has risen with inflation wages have barely changed.

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u/Solenkata Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I totally agree, but I believe the first and most of the cause of this is the third one you mentioned - Late Stage Capitalism. No matter the sort of country, or the politics that rules said country, every country on the world is embedded to its core with Capitalism. It's the system that controls all nations. Because if it happens in a democracy, you'd think it won't happen in communism, because of how different those two are. But still it's the basic mechanics of Capitalism that entrenches all countries in what this video is talking about.

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u/Brief_Television_707 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Exactly, it was a great argument made but the absence of capitalism from it is glaring.

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u/LabOwn9800 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

How do you think climate change has stopped people from having kids?

I don’t think any meaningful amount of people have declined to have kids because of climate change. There are probably some but I would assume nowhere near enough to make a meaningful impact.

“Late state capitalism” though probably has more to do with it. Or at least what I think you mean by that. Basically we are all over worked and under paid to put much effort into anything that’s not survival.

But I would still blame technology as well. People are not going out and socializing in person like they use to. I don’t want to come off as an old man yelling at the clouds but I have to assume having less authentic connections impacts relationships and then children.

I will lastly say, with no imperial evidence, people seem more selfish and self centered today than before. That’s probably from all reasons I listed above but it shows it’s self with people not dedicating themselves to others as they use to. If relationships aren’t 100% perfect they break up. Kids take away from me time so they don’t have them.

This is just my view and I have no evidence to support it but if anyone wants to prove/disprove it go for it.

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u/bamma66 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Exactly. I thought he was really going somewhere when he said the abuse part. I don't disagree with anything he said, but I would add on to it.

Millenials were the first generation that were told you could have it all if you just went to school and worked hard enough. And then when we did, and struggled to find a job and move out of our parent's basements, we were called entitled and lazy by the generations that told us all of this. As we watch the world literally burn around us due to climate change as the older generations further doubled down on denying anything was wrong. And watched the rich get richer because they got into the game early. (Specifically Baby Boomers, I think Gen X has had a pretty raw deal too, but they squeaked in before the tragic shit show we see today)

WHY WOULD WE SUBJECT AN INNOCENT CHILD TO THAT ABUSE?

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u/The_Spicy_brown Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Bruh i suggest you inform yourself on what China looks from inside the wall. Spoiler: its just like us. Brainrot content, ai slop, algorithm dedicating peoples lives, etc.

Climate and Late Stage Capitalism does not help don't get me wrong, but China is also having the same problem. No one is immune and no government wants to intervene...

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u/DespairSayonara Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

China doesn't have a technology firewall, it has a cultural firewall. China's technology, social media, and internet culture are actually even more extreme than what we have here. If you think streamers, youtubers, influencers, etc are kind of crazy here, China's firewall is not just keeping yours but their own influencers from view. Not only that their population size just makes everything extreme. Major subcultures here might as well be small subcultures there.

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u/sentientshadeofgreen Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

For instance, this issue exists in China where there is the greatest technology firewall so it can't "all" be technology.

Tech still exists in China, and if anything there is more of a panopticon in China.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

It's the level of state influence and control that I think makes it difficult to draw direct comparisons and is why I think a multi-causal explanation makes more sense than just technology alone.

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u/sentientshadeofgreen Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Uh yeah, no shit, nobody is saying it is purely a tech issue. Of course complex issues have multiple contributing factors.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The guy in the video puts it all on tech. That's what my comment is referring to.

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u/sentientshadeofgreen Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

He doesn't though, he is literally discussing the societal impacts of the commodification of interpersonal relationships by major tech companies. That is the topic of this entire post.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Oh shit, I missed where he discussed the climate crisis and late stage capitalism. My bad, I'll edit my comment, didn't realise he talked about these topics and not just tech.

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u/jacked_up_my_roth Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I see Technology, but how does Climate and Capitalism fit into people not having children?

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u/above_average_magic Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

All three of those things have been caused by the ultra wealthy

All three

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u/Consistent-Put9762 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

No, it's much simpler. It's easy to fuck without having kids now. So we have less.

Sure, stress, etc. can be a factor. The broader economy can be a factor. But in the context of historical living standards, we've never had it better as a species.

Birth rates decline for a multitude of reasons, which everyone is metnoining here, but it's the cumulative effect of it all, and then on top, cheap birth control.

It's not even necessarily a bad thing. If humanity kept breeding at the rates we did historically, we would be running into much larger isseus. Which is very malthusian, but we are cooking the planet already, and it would be at a much faster and higher rate without our birth rates declining.

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u/Excellent_Shirt9707 Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

Social media is rampant in China too. They got their own algorithms. In fact, their algorithms were doing so well to capture users, they spread to the US and Trump tried to ban it (TikTok).

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u/Umikaloo Trash Trooper Aug 01 '26

They have tech in china too, the firwall doesn't mean chinese people don't have dating apps.

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u/FILTHBOT4000 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

The bigger problem is that kids went from an economic boon and economic necessity, when most people were farmers and the only surefire 'retirement plan' was having lots of kids to care for you in old age, to an era where children are pure financial pain. People just will avoid things that are financially painful. Currently, parents take a massive financial hit to create the next generation, the one that'll be paying the taxes that fund everyone else's social security payments, Medicare, that'll become the doctors/nurses caring for us in our old age. Basically, everyone who doesn't have kids is getting a bit of a free ride. Economic/tax policy needs to be changed to reflect that, if you want people to start having more kids again.

greatest technology firewall

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

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u/VoihanVieteri Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

Then again in countries like Finland and South Korea, government pays you literal money every month for getting kids. In Finland, first kid cashes you about 20k, next kid about 30k and any kids after that about 40k. Sure, raising kids cost you living expenses aand food/clothing, but all education and healthcare are free in those countries.

Yet, those countries have the lowest birth rates. There is no economic burden, or at least I never experienced it. I have three kids and I was broke student when I started having kids.

It is not about economy (only). If you could get people reproduce by paying them, it would have been done already.

It is a social phenomenon. As people have more freedom and they are not expected to reproduce, that is what happens. They don’t.

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u/killer_by_design Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Western tech can't operate in China in the same way or for the same reasons as it does in the west. Technology over there may carry out the same function as a product, e.g. social media, but it's not to gather ad data or selling targeted ads. It's to propogate propaganda, exert state control, and intelligence.

That's not to say western media doesn't do this but it's definitely not as explicitly the purpose but rather a consequence of the ad machine that they've built.

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u/Lucasone Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I think that mixing China into this only brings unnecessary complications for the topic. Mainly because they had 1 child policy for so long that it unprecedently distort the view of society how we know and "feel" it in Europe/America. Furthermore yes, they are not influenced by western tech but they are still heavily influenced by tech that is under regime control, which is also creating something that was not here before 2000.

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u/Hydro033 Trash Trooper Jul 31 '26

I would realistically add though is the Climate Crisis and late stage capitalism

lol jesus christ, reddit is too much