The correlation between smartphones and delayed reproduction part 2

Quietterry · 2026-06-16T08:24:38+00:00

Last thread ran out of pages. It would appear the birth rate in India has also decreased when it used to be super high (hence having a billion people) CRED founder Kunal shah seems to agree internet may have played its part. As for the posters adamant that nothing had changed in the uk in the last 25 years and claiming they didn’t know anyone who had children at 25 back then. Here’s some statistics for you: *United Kingdom (England and Wales):* Exact cohort data tracks that *33% of women* born in 1972 (who turned 29 in 2001) had at least one child by age 25. For the cohort turning 25 exactly in 2001 (born in 1976), childbearing hit a generational low point, where *fewer than 30% of women* had given birth by their 25th birthday. So if nothing had changed about 60 out of 200 people I went to school with would have had kids by now

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 17/06/2026 12:16

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:59

Is it really?

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Yes.

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 12:03

SleeplessInWherever · 17/06/2026 12:00

Yeah. I’m a little older than you but I have no interest in sharing my life news with people I barely liked 20 years ago.

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Well maybe when it’s been 20 years we’ll be more atomised for now people talk

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SleeplessInWherever · 17/06/2026 12:00

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:59

Is it really?

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Yeah. I’m a little older than you but I have no interest in sharing my life news with people I barely liked 20 years ago.

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:59

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 17/06/2026 11:58

How unusual.

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Is it really?

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WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 17/06/2026 11:58

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:50

I mean sure there’s probably one or two who’ve slipped completely off the radar but generally I’m friends with people and they are friends with other people who are friends with other people so it all connects up. Anytime someone has a child it’s a big thing I find out about, tragically two people have died. It was big news when someone became a teacher someone else a model and when someone started an only fans. I’m pretty sure I’d know.

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How unusual.

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:55

SallySall · 17/06/2026 11:31

To be fair your first thread you only mentioned phones originally and this thread title only mentions phones.

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Yeah not much thought went into the title of the second thread I probably could have worded it better. I just think it goes without saying that more people are going to university than in the past (though it’s still only about half), contraception, price of rent etc. There’s been debate about this sort of thing in the past and one reason I’ve never seen mentioned is the internet. Again not saying it’s the only reason. But some people spend 8 hours a day on their phones. Once you factor in the time spent at work that’s nearly all their free time.

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Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:50

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 17/06/2026 11:30

Can you explain how you know the reproductive status of all 200 people you went to school with?

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I mean sure there’s probably one or two who’ve slipped completely off the radar but generally I’m friends with people and they are friends with other people who are friends with other people so it all connects up. Anytime someone has a child it’s a big thing I find out about, tragically two people have died. It was big news when someone became a teacher someone else a model and when someone started an only fans. I’m pretty sure I’d know.

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LlynTegid · 17/06/2026 11:31

Quietterry · 16/06/2026 09:30

I do agree, you see a lot of incels blaming the declining fertility rate on women but so many of these same young men who hold these views spend hours every day gaming

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or watching porn and their right hand being active, so to speak.

SallySall · 17/06/2026 11:31

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:27

I literally never said it was the only reason

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To be fair your first thread you only mentioned phones originally and this thread title only mentions phones.

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 17/06/2026 11:30

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:30

Wgat have I said that’s bullshit? That I barely know anyone my age with kids? That most of my mums friends had had children by 25? Just because you don’t like it (for whatever god unknown reason) doesn’t mean it’s bullshit.

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Can you explain how you know the reproductive status of all 200 people you went to school with?

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:30

TheBlueDeer · 17/06/2026 11:20

Unless you got all A*s then no, you didn’t do better than me. If you got good grades then what’s your excuse for all this nonsense? Not sure why you’re so hung up on the one mistake of one user when you’ve posted pages and pages of bullshit

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Wgat have I said that’s bullshit? That I barely know anyone my age with kids? That most of my mums friends had had children by 25? Just because you don’t like it (for whatever god unknown reason) doesn’t mean it’s bullshit.

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Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:27

Honeyhonay · 17/06/2026 11:22

You actually said phones were the reason many times, which considering any small change to reproductive age superseded smart phones it’s clearly not a sound conclusion to make.

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I literally never said it was the only reason

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Honeyhonay · 17/06/2026 11:22

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:18

And I didn’t say anything about not having GCSEs, I did them while pregnant and probably got better grades then you. I also never said phones were the only reason for this I just said it could be one of the many reasons along with contraception and expensive rent etc.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/10/gen-z-women-first-child-age-35/

Gen Z (my generation) are forecasted to have their first child around 35 on average. So I’m not talking shit unlike the poster who posted an inaccurate link trying to claim the average first child was born when the mother was 29 in 1938. When that was true for all births not first births.

Why are you so hostile over this anyway? Are you the parent of a child who spends 8 hours a day online?

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You actually said phones were the reason many times, which considering any small change to reproductive age superseded smart phones it’s clearly not a sound conclusion to make.

TheBlueDeer · 17/06/2026 11:20

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:18

And I didn’t say anything about not having GCSEs, I did them while pregnant and probably got better grades then you. I also never said phones were the only reason for this I just said it could be one of the many reasons along with contraception and expensive rent etc.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/10/gen-z-women-first-child-age-35/

Gen Z (my generation) are forecasted to have their first child around 35 on average. So I’m not talking shit unlike the poster who posted an inaccurate link trying to claim the average first child was born when the mother was 29 in 1938. When that was true for all births not first births.

Why are you so hostile over this anyway? Are you the parent of a child who spends 8 hours a day online?

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Unless you got all A*s then no, you didn’t do better than me. If you got good grades then what’s your excuse for all this nonsense? Not sure why you’re so hung up on the one mistake of one user when you’ve posted pages and pages of bullshit

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 11:18

TheBlueDeer · 17/06/2026 08:35

Stop digging, you’re literally proving my point - I didn’t say anything about student debt, you’re lacking very basic skills that should be gained at GCSE because you had a child instead. Forget uni lol it’s worse than that.

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And I didn’t say anything about not having GCSEs, I did them while pregnant and probably got better grades then you. I also never said phones were the only reason for this I just said it could be one of the many reasons along with contraception and expensive rent etc.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/06/10/gen-z-women-first-child-age-35/

Gen Z (my generation) are forecasted to have their first child around 35 on average. So I’m not talking shit unlike the poster who posted an inaccurate link trying to claim the average first child was born when the mother was 29 in 1938. When that was true for all births not first births.

Why are you so hostile over this anyway? Are you the parent of a child who spends 8 hours a day online?

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TheBlueDeer · 17/06/2026 08:35

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 07:58

You’re reading comprehension isn’t great I’ve only said the internet may have paid a part I haven’t said it’s the only reason. Clearly this has touched a nerve because why the personal attacks? Not sure what nerve it could have touched though.

Endless posters saying they don’t know anyone who had children before 25 or 30, well fair enough but it dosent match up with what I see in the real world ie ages of my friends parents. So not sure why you think it’s gospel?

Anyway shame you have all that student debt and still can’t comprehend what you’re reading

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Stop digging, you’re literally proving my point - I didn’t say anything about student debt, you’re lacking very basic skills that should be gained at GCSE because you had a child instead. Forget uni lol it’s worse than that.

Original poster

Quietterry · 17/06/2026 07:58

TheBlueDeer · 16/06/2026 22:23

Someone presumably reading the graph wrong isn't really on the same level as what you've done, which is make a weird claim based on pretty much nothing, claim your mother's one example should be given the same weight as endless posters on here saying otherwise (that's just basic maths really isn't it?) shown that you aren't able to read a basic graph properly or identify the trends, or lack of, in it, shown you don't understand correlation vs causation...need I go on? These are all very basic GCSE level concepts that you should've been in school learning about rather than getting up the duff.

Edited

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You’re reading comprehension isn’t great I’ve only said the internet may have paid a part I haven’t said it’s the only reason. Clearly this has touched a nerve because why the personal attacks? Not sure what nerve it could have touched though.

Endless posters saying they don’t know anyone who had children before 25 or 30, well fair enough but it dosent match up with what I see in the real world ie ages of my friends parents. So not sure why you think it’s gospel?

Anyway shame you have all that student debt and still can’t comprehend what you’re reading

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Firefly1987 · 17/06/2026 00:04

GentleSheep · 16/06/2026 09:44

I'm not sure how smartphones are some kind of birth control device! Far more likely it's the prevailing attitude we need less people 'because of the planet' or the economic costs of having a family, climate change, or the many reasons why women just don't want to have kids.

We don't need 'fewer humans', though. Humans have an expiry date, to put it bluntly. If the reproductive index drops below 2.1 then in a few hundred years we'll cease to exist. In many countries (like Japan) this is where it's headed. Humanity is headed towards extinction and not with a bang, but with a whimper, if this carries on.

Why does that matter though? None of us will be here in a few hundred years so why would we care if the human race went extinct? And if we did care surely we'd hope we went out "with a whimper" and not from some mass crisis event causing huge suffering?

Twattergy · 16/06/2026 23:23

No one is disagreeing with you that fewer 25 year olds have kids now than in generations before. We can just all see its for a huge range of reasons. And not solely due to the existence of smart phones.

CJsGoldfish · 16/06/2026 23:12

Quietterry · 16/06/2026 22:11

Hilarious, and for all my flaws I’m not the one posting links to false information

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But you did post
"...what I said about phones has been looked into by scientists"

and then provided a link titled: iPhone may be one factor in falling birth rates, researchers say

which was one economist 😝

From the article that you posted to 'back up' your claim
The 2000s brought a number of major social and economic shifts that are widely believed to be contributing to the so-called “baby bust.” These include the global financial crisis, rising housing costs, higher levels of education and broader access to contraception

"..one of the most important changes in recent decades is that more people, particularly women, feel empowered to choose whether or not to become a parent"

Ends with "Researchers (or one economist?)acknowledge that the iPhone itself is unlikely to explain such a complex global trend on its own, but say it may be part of a broader shift in how people connect, form relationships and structure their lives."

Marrying the first person who asked and having babies is thankfully no longer the best that young girls can hope for. They no longer have to buy in to the whole idea that the pinnacle of life is being one of two and producing babies straight out of school. I'd much rather see my daughters spread their wings and aim for the stars than believe that having a baby is the best they can hope for

I'm so glad that women now have a choice whether to even have children. That society, as a whole, has moved on from EXPECTING that all girls take that path. I'm glad women have access to birth control and the ability to decide not to go through with a pregnancy should they choose not to. Happy that education is available and girls want more than to drop out and check out.
iPhones and technology have certainly changed how we do many things and interact but have a miniscule effect on why young women are not having babies at the same rate they one did 🤷‍♀️

Schoolchoicesucks · 16/06/2026 22:54

No-one had a smart phone aged 25 in 2001 so smartphones had no impact whatsoever in the reproductive choices of those 25 year olds in 2001.

Chiapotayto · 16/06/2026 22:51

I asked on your previous thread. Are you the poster who keeps posting about having a child at 16 and everyone judging you, so now you mock people who have children later in life?

livelovelough24 · 16/06/2026 22:49

Bellyblueboy · 16/06/2026 22:31

I am you parents age. One girl in school had a baby. None of my friends has babies in their early or mid twenties. Most were over thirty, some over forty.

Most went to university and graduated at 21 or 22, either studied more or started a career. Travelled, bought houses.

my mum is nearly 80 - she and her friends had babies in their twenties and thirties and forties. They started earlier because they didn’t go to university and married earlier.

You are making up a silly argument about smart phones. The internet was gaining traction when I graduated university in 2000, most people had a simple mobile phone but smart phones weren’t about.

The big societal change has been women’s rights, women’s education, women’s ambitions and expectations. Put simply there are more options for women. More things to be done, experiences to achieve, ladders to climb and goals to be conquered.

This!

noworklifebalance · 16/06/2026 22:48

Quietterry · 16/06/2026 22:06

@noworklifebalance

Heres an accurate link for you

https://www.statista.com/statistics/294594/mother-average-age-at-childbirth-england-and-wales-by-child-number/?srsltid=AfmBOorHTd2n4qSd69s4vKI4ghRuDvknoC4M1cNrs3NLhB0bBzp4tOaY

Please don’t post links of bullshit you didn’t bother to double check while insulting MY intelligence

Goodness me - Statista is useful but it’s not source data so will have inaccuracies. Assuming it is correct, it shows the rise in age of first time mums has been happening for a decades, predating smartphones and gaming. It will also vary geographically, with educational achievements of the mother (and her mother), with family income, ethnicity, etc.

livelovelough24 · 16/06/2026 22:47

There are many reasons why people have kids later in life, or do not have them at all, but none has anything to do with smart phones.