i had a convo with my friend the other day and he told me him and his gf don't wanna have kids because we're living in the worst times and raising kids in todays world wouldnt be great. i honestly have always been super optimistic about s*** like this like i genuinely believe we have the tools and capacity to change the world for the better.

what do you guys think? do you think every generation felt like this? or are we actually living in the worst of times? or do we now, more than ever have the capacity to create a world better for our children?

Yup

Yes

lmao i know for a fact im living in the best time

like its just factual

everything is terrible, always

maybe, if you're white in the suburbs in the 50s not really

Probably the cavemen didn't

probably, s*** trash rn though

Humans are extremely good at survival just think of how much s*** we’ve had to get through to get to this point. Would be disingenuous to say we’re living in the worst times in history, but to the question most would probably feel that way

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

3000 sounds cooler , somethings off to me about 2000

They do not want to have kids, but they lack a specific motivation. They are simply ambivalent on the matter. First, I’ll take a quick detour to say that is quite likely that across time and space, many people have felt this ambivalence but have had children regardless. The reason is that people in traditional societies have a need for children which people in post-industrial societies do not (food production and elderly care stand out) and that people lacked easy and reliable birth control. Today, people who lack both the need and desire feel the need to justify not having children (perhaps because it was so ubiquitous even within living memory?), and this catastrophizing narrative is what has apparently emerged as the consensus morally sound, intelligent, socially acceptable reason. This doesn’t apply to everyone who doesn’t want to have children (of course, there are people who are not just ambivalent, but actively against having kids - I find that they tend to have more authentic, specific reasoning), so suffice it to say that I am skeptical of people who say they do not want children because of climate change. Also, I do not intend this to be a natalist screed, I just think this line of reasoning - which is, of course, in fact a post facto justification - is not authentic, yet neither do I think the people who use this reasoning are actively lying.

All that being said, even if we accept that everyone who says this is being authentic, it is still a relatively novel attitude due to the aforementioned need for children for most people living in traditional societies.

Just remember, wherever you go, there you are.

I wish I went to high school between 2002-3006

Idk ppl in the 80s probably thought it was pretty cool

I feel like every generation should feel like they’re living in the best times. Think it’s pretty damn obvious if you really take a look at the surroundings.

I would 1000x rather be born in the 2020s than the 90s-10s

No.

This is absolutely the best time to live in history.

We get wrapped up in the negatives.

People born like 100 years ago working 12 hour shifts in a coal mine as a child and die of cancer or getting blown to pieces.

People had like 2 outfits growing up a century ago. Had to tape their boots together.

Now we have a fashion section.

Ik life could be easier and better, but it could be so much f***ing worse. Dog you have a computer in your pocket at all times..

People used to be slaves and starve to death and suffer inhumane abhorrent tragedies on a daily basis.

Things aren't perfect but it's as good as just regular ass folks have ever had it in history.

People who hate life now just need to get a better job and get laid. Life isn't that f***ing bad.

People used to just get hung in public squares for entertainment.

Stole an apple because your family's starving? You are tonight's lucky hanging.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

aside from all the 20 flavors of oreo s*** its definitely the most depressing era to live in and it prob wont get better

Did the guys who lived in their generation think it was the worst generation

there's a lot of wack s*** going on in the world but not sure how someone today could read about the Great Depression or WWII and think they're getting a bad deal

the circumstances over the world are so different from place to place its pointless to even discuss this unless ur talking about a concrete location

Generally for how humans think i'd say a more important indicator is how things are progressing, even if life was worse in the past but it seemed to be improving over time people would think they'd live in better times. However if the future isnt looking too bright and things seem to be getting worse even if life is better than the past people would generally think theyre living in bad times.

Baby boomers got everything and it's all been downhill since.