I think just as much as the economic headwinds, the expectation that every kid needs to be closely surveilled 24/7 by necessity means a much lower birth rate.

Culture cannot be ignored. And right now, children are expected to be treated like concentration camp inmates under constant guard, not allowed to stray more than 10 feet away lest the cops be called, not allowed to play alone or sometimes even be alone, and with no prospect of any of the freedoms I and most people over 40 enjoyed as children.

While children suffer, regarding the birth rate, parents in this terrible culture also must bear a heavy burden. They must devote every scrap of waking attention to making sure little Timmy or Joanna is never out of sight as CPS gets called in an eyeblink these days. This culture of extreme monitoring puts an upper limit on how many children most people will have or wish to have.

After all, who’d want to have children who could never be more than an arm’s length away where you basically become an unpaid prison guard in charge of their every move and breath?

Sounds terrible. And requires an enormous time investment, far more than previous generations would’ve devoted to any one kid. So, yes, culture matters just as much as economics when looking for the answer as to why more people don’t want to live a life like that to have some kids.