Pocket Computers

John Burn-Murdoch writes for Financial Times about the single unifying theory around the decline in fertility. The number of births fell first and fastest in the areas that received high-speed mobile connectivity earliest. The authors argue that smartphones have transformed how young people spend time with one another, sharply reducing in-person socialising and leading to the collapse in their fertility. The reason for population decline is hiding in your pocket. This isn’t at all suprising to me. Marital experience has taught me that it’s hard for a spouse to be as interesting an endless supply of short-form videos.