00:00Are smartphones killing intimacy?
00:02Yes, so I think that they date less because of their smartphones.
00:06Definitely, yeah.
00:07Two recent studies suggest that there's a link between smartphone usage and a decline in birth rates.
00:12In one, researchers looked at the launch of the very first iPhone.
00:15They found that places with early exclusive access found a noticeable drop in birth rates.
00:20A second study found that the expansion of digital tech, such as the rollout of 4G,
00:24essentially acted as an accidental kind of birth control.
00:27Basically, the researchers found that smartphones prevent young people from hanging out in person.
00:31More time alone on your phone, less time going out and dating.
00:35There might be a correlation between smartphone usage being more prominent with the younger generation and dating less.
00:43To be fair, dating sites such as Tinder and other stuff do make connections more possible, so it might be
00:51a bit more nuanced.
00:52We let ourselves be okay with just watching TikTok instead of trying to do something fun.
00:57I think that's kind of bad.
00:58This phenomenon has been observed beyond the US in relation to mobile internet advancements.
01:03In countries like France and Poland, Mexico, Morocco and Indonesia, and Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.
01:09But can your phone really be blamed for the so-called fertility crisis?
01:12According to the UN, skyrocketing costs of living, housing, gender inequality and deep uncertainty about the future are the main
01:19reasons people are having fewer babies globally.
01:21I don't think it's because of inflation and all of those political stuff.
01:26I think it's because people are less social nowadays. They're more in their bubble on Instagram or social media.
01:34Fear about the future, about having kids. It seems like everything's quite a big risk.
01:38A lot of uncertainty that would make you, as well as the phone stuff.
01:42You don't want to bring another child if you can't afford another child.
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