How Our Digital Obsession, Economic Uncertainty, and AI Could Be Making Parenthood Obsolete
In 2018, the United Nations made a rather sobering prediction: for the first time in history, the number of people over 65 had officially outnumbered children under the age of five. By 2050, they projected, the number of seniors will surpass even the global population of 15-to 24-year-olds.
But before we put too much faith in UN projections, it’s worth noting that they also estimated India wouldn’t surpass China as the most populous country until 2027, yet, that milestone happened in April 2023. So maybe we need to bump up their timeline on aging populations as well.
While the world’s population is still technically growing, the rate at which it grows has been slowing down for decades. Birth rates are plummeting across much of the developed world. The consequences? A future where societies grapple with shrinking workforces, strained economies, and the eerie possibility of a demographic collapse.
There are plenty of reasons why people are having fewer children—or none at all. Economic instability, shifting cultural norms, the simple realization that parenting is an 18-year subscription with no return policy. But there’s one factor lurking in the background of all these changes: technology.
How Technology Is Reshaping the Path to Parenthood
We like to believe we’re in control of our decisions, especially when it comes to something as fundamental as reproduction. But what if I told you that the gadgets we adore, the economic systems we’ve built, and the digital world we inhabit are subtly nudging us away from having kids? Not in some sci-fi dystopian “AI-wants-to-eliminate-humans” way (yet), but in a more insidious, slow-burn societal shift.
Technology has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, our relationships, our jobs, our finance, and it’s playing a much bigger role in declining birth rates than we might realize.
Let’s break it down.
Dating Apps, Digital Distractions, and The Death of IRL Romance
Once upon a time, people met their significant others through friends, at bars, or—brace yourself—by simply walking up to someone and striking up a conversation.
Then, Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and a million other dating apps showed up, turning human connection into a never-ending slot machine of potential partners. The paradox of choice kicked in. Why settle down when you can keep swiping for something better?
And it’s not just dating apps. Social media, gaming, and streaming services have created an entire generation that spends more time cultivating online personas than real-life relationships. The result? Fewer deep connections, fewer long-term commitments, and, well, fewer babies.
At some point, people simply stop trying. If you’ve dipped a toe into the modern dating pool, you’ll know it’s… bleak. If dating feels like an exhausting second job, is it any wonder that marriage and children seem increasingly unappealing?
The Economy Is a Mess, and Technology Helped Make It That Way
Ask any Millennial or Gen Z adult why they don’t want kids, and at least half will say, “Have you seen the cost of living?”
They’re not wrong.
Housing costs have skyrocketed, fueled in part by real estate tech platforms that make it easy for investors to snap up properties remotely, driving up prices and reducing supply.
Healthcare is absurdly expensive, and while technology has made great strides in medical advancements, it has also made healthcare more expensive (insurance, specialized treatments, and even fertility services now carry enormous price tags).
Wages have stagnated, while automation and AI threaten to displace millions of jobs in the coming decades.
For most people, the math just doesn’t add up. If owning a home, saving for retirement, and simply existing is already a financial tightrope walk, adding childcare costs (which, by the way, are often more expensive than college tuition in the U.S.) seems downright reckless.
And technology, while often touted as the great equalizer, has made economic inequality worse. Automation eliminates jobs. The gig economy, made possible by apps like Uber and DoorDash, has created an unstable workforce where benefits and long-term job security are relics of the past.
When people don’t feel financially stable, they delay or opt out of having children entirely.
The Sedentary Lifestyle & Public Health Decline
It’s no secret that modern life has made us less active. But what does that have to do with population decline?
A lot, actually.
Sedentary lifestyles (thank you, screens) have been linked to declining fertility rates, particularly in men.
The obesity epidemic, which has risen alongside technology’s takeover of everyday life, also affects fertility and pregnancy health.
Mental health issues (exacerbated by social media, digital burnout, and the general existential crisis of being alive in 2025) have skyrocketed, leading to lower sex drives and decreased interest in family-building.
Public health has deteriorated, and ironically, while technology is helping us diagnose illnesses faster, it’s also contributing to them.
AI, Automation, and the End of Work as We Know It
Even those who want kids are asking a fair question: What kind of jobs will even exist for the next generation?
The rise of AI and automation is reshaping industries faster than policymakers can keep up. While technology promises efficiency and convenience, it also threatens job security on a massive scale.
Imagine trying to plan for your future when the future itself is a moving target.
A growing number of people are opting out of parenthood because the economic outlook feels uncertain. How do you confidently bring a child into a world where even high-skill jobs might be obsolete in 20 years?
The Pronatalist Pushback: Can Technology Fix What It Broke?
Interestingly, some of the same Silicon Valley billionaires who helped create this tech-driven reality are now panicking about population decline.
Elon Musk, for example, has repeatedly called declining birth rates “the biggest threat to civilization”—a bold take from someone with 11 children (and counting).
Enter the pronatalist movement; a growing effort among tech elites and policymakers to incentivize larger families. Some proposed solutions include:
Financial incentives (child tax credits, direct subsidies)
AI-powered matchmaking (because, of course, tech guys think they can engineer love)
Artificial wombs (seriously, look it up)
But unless these efforts address the root of the issue, economic instability, digital addiction, and the erosion of real-world human connection, they’re just putting a band-aid on a bullet wound.
So… Is Technology Fueling Population Decline?
Short answer? Yes.
Long answer? Technology has amplified every major factor that contributes to declining birth rates, from digital distractions killing IRL romance, to automation disrupting the economy, to rising living costs making parenthood seem financially impossible.
The combined influence of technology and socioeconomic forces is shaping a world where fewer people are choosing to have kids, not out of selfishness, but out of sheer practicality.
And yet, the irony remains: if birth rates keep plummeting, all these tech advancements in AI, automation, biotech won’t matter much if there’s no one left to use them.
So, what happens next?
That’s the billion-dollar question.
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