Unpopular opinion: This is the best time to have kids and life has never been better, technology makes everything easier. Economically things may be tougher in purchasing power, but life is much more than that and most people can get more “luxuries” that people in the past did not have. World global absolute poverty has drastically decreased. Besides that, everyday better healthcare procedures are improved, never has been a better time to be born in the world. And entertainment and information options are easier and endless.
Edit: What I mean is although we are pushed into smaller and smaller apartments and the cost of groceries are above and breaking (by comparison) than what it used to… I think we can still have a better life quality than 50 years ago for everything that came buy and improved apart from that. Just my opinion. And by average I mean globally
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Tell me you’re rich without telling me you’re rich.
An unpopular opinion but you aren’t wrong
Too bad I can’t afford to live anywhere.
I’m assuming you’re a man. And live in a country that’s not the USA.
Laughs in single motherhood.
Unless you get rich of off like social media or whatever, wouldn’t like…
20-30yrs ago be the best time to become a adult? as technology was similar and cost of living wasn’t as high as it is now?
Being a kid in the ’90s, I would disagree. There was less pressure on parents, just enough tech, and endless imagination. We played outside all day, ate mac & cheese and McDonald’s was a rare treat. No screen tantrums.
Most of history being a parent sucked yes. Especially considering that your child had a good chance of dying and you and your family were likely always in danger if you were a normal person. Oh, and if you were a woman, didn’t fit the area’s stereotype, or were perceived as weaker as an individual or people group, watch out.
Technology pervading every aspect of our lives is AT BEST a double edged sword
Sure, if you can afford access to the improvements, I agree with you. Improved healthcare procedures are great, but it doesn’t matter when you cannot afford them. I know families paying over $1500/mo for “healthcare” premiums but with a $12K deductible they’d have to spend $30K in one year before getting any relief. Most people can’t do that so they simply don’t get treatment. It’s cheaper to die. Pretty sad.
So you mean to tell us you DON’T mind living in a shoebox with half of your family?
voted for unpopular opinion
I’ll have to ask for financial support for having a kid despite both of us working 40 hours a week.
It’s not fine! It’s fucked completely because baby boomers barely had any kids.
People arguing that they can’t have kids cause they’re poor are dumb. What do you think they did back in the day. Wait until they were wealthy to have kids? My parents (who were poor immigrants) had my sibling in their late 20s when they were poor af. They came to NA when they were in their late teens and struggled throughout their entire 20s. Lived near the poverty line. My dad was in school. My mom worked multiple jobs. They had me seven years later when they were well into their mid 30s. They were established, had an actual house (not renting), etc. It took time. They went through a lot of turmoil. My sibling grew up very different than me. But they’re probably better off for it now. I think the problem is the weakness in these generations. We don’t know real struggle and when faced with its possibility, we don’t try to overcome it, just run away from it’s existence.
There’s are positives today without a doubt. Though I would argue technology is a positive and negative
This post reads like a boomer who bought their house for $25,000, has plenty of money to retire on, and is totally out of touch with what it’s like to be a young adult.
I don’t have 30k to pop a baby out rn
Is affordable rent a luxury now?
Wow this is perfect for this sub lol. Yeah I’d give up every convenience offered by technology to be able to afford quality groceries, a comfortable place to live and have cheap and free access to third spaces to socialize with friends who would actually have enough time outside of work to socialize regularly.
Not to mention computers have actually made a lot of things more difficult and frustrating, surveillance culture sucks, and a lot of recent movies aren’t even worth watching if you have nothing to do.
You are right about medical developments though, I’d miss my modern IUD.
dude. this is a great unpopular opinion. how much was your inheritance for the down payment of your house.
lol 2019 had a much better quality of life
I would be in debt for life just for the hospital bills of having the kid smh
Maybe some day, like OP, I also won’t have rent or bills to pay.
I agree! I just had my son for that same reason. I’ve been with my fiance for 10 years and we decided it was time. Ppl kept trying to psych me out but I would just tell them: if families in developing countries can have kids (with little money) I’ll be fine! My kid does not need the newest, fanciest anything! I’ll get by with the basics.
I would think maybe the early 2000s was the best time to grow up as a kid. You had the perfect amount of technology and played outside with your friends until sundown. At least I did, I was born in 2002 so I’m 23 now and yeah it was great back then
Nah e
Well you obviously don’t live in Trump’s America otherwise you wouldn’t post something so ridiculous unless you were a rich white Christian with nothing but hate for others in your heart.
I think the oncoming difficulties negate that. For the past 60 years, sure, but it’s ending in the very near future.
Ngl knowing that my kids are going to inherit a dying world is rough.
As someone who grew up with significantly less than most of my peers- I absolutely would rather never reproduce than to put a child through that.
what are you smoking? Many young people can’t even afford to buy a home to begin with.
1996-2016 will easily be looked at as the peak of modern times. It was our Roaring 20s before all world wars.
> technology makes everything easier.
That doesn’t mean life on average is better in any way, shape or form.
There is something to this. I fell on very hard times at one point, and had only a few dollars to my name. I bought a nice cellphone and was able to download thousands of free ebooks and songs and movies. My entertainment budget was nil, but I was immersed in good stuff. Impossible years ago. People complain because their memories are deficient.
Wrong for one reason: the economy. You know what I would rather have than Breaking Bad or better videogames or YouTube or reddit? A more affordable mortgage, utility bill, groceries, secondary education, health care, and so on
My mother was a teacher and my father was a janitor and they were able to afford a literal two story, 6 bedroom mansion in the countryside. My spouse’s parents were both teachers and they now own millions in property just because they bought two homes when they were in their twenties
That sounds better than whatever the fuck is going on right now. We have some nice toys to distract us but c’mon
I wish I could afford better luxuries than coffee and comfy socks. I was talking to one guy and he said you can get coffee anywhere. When I asked what was an example of a luxury he suggested a private jet.
Found the propaganda
I agree, we honestly live in great times.
Yeah, life is great when you’re rich and can afford the higher tier of society’s offerings. Six years ago or so I pointed out that there’s Finding Nemo kids and Finding Dory kids. Because Finding Dory was on streaming, Finding Nemo you had to buy separately. So a lot of kids didn’t even know Finding Nemo was a thing. There’s spaghetti kids and spaghettios kids. There’s pizza oven kids and oven pizza kids. There’s just a clear division that’s been happening where the middle class has been split in half, the top half is making posts like this and buying $75k cars and shit while the bottom half is drowning and can’t afford basic necessities because the top half has driven up prices on everything just by being willing to pay more. Home repairs is a great example, good luck getting any plumbers out to your house for less than $1,000. Why? Because people borrowing against their home equity fill up the schedules of plumbing companies, so now if you have a minor problem you either fix it yourself or you’re fucked, because no plumber is coming to your house for a $400 job. The middle class is broken in half. It’s not surprising that it doesn’t look that way from the top half.
You go right ahead and do that. I am enjoying being single and child free.
We lack community, cohesion, societal trust, and hope for a brighter tomorrow. I don’t give a damn if the TV is as cheap as it ever been.
It’s probably one of the most stressful times to be alive. More stuff =/= more happiness. Imo people are happier when life is simpler and we don’t need to worry about switching careers every decade. Not to mention social media tearing apart the fabric of society.
You’d think all of the advances in technology would have made life easier for people. I mean if you just want to spend your life playing video games and watching TV etc. I guess it’s an ok time to be alive but I don’t think most people end up content with that.
It’s definitely not the worst time to be alive but definitely not the best either.
India reached 120 degrees in April. So you might be right if you pretend nothing is happening
Least obvious bot lol
Yep. Everyone on Reddit is a doomer who whines about their problems, despite all the benefits of modern science, medicine, technology. Sure there is a lot of inequality and problems that remain but I’m not sure why people think that the past was better.
Couldn’t disagree more. America is on the verge of another great depression, china won the trade war, tensions are rising between india and pakistan which are both nuclear armed countries, the war in ukrane is going nowhere, the economy is worse than its ever been, cost of living is almost impossible unless your making 25-30 dollars and hour or more, cars are unaffordable, housing is unaffordable, corruption in the government is higher than ever, mega corps are turning everything into a monopoly, social media/the internet is just brainwashing everything into endless doomscrolling or worse and as a result people have zero social skills, motivation, or will to do anything besides sit in front of a screen all day being depressed. If you ask me i couldn’t think of a worse time in all of human history to be alive second only to when the black plague and great depression was a thing.
There were a lot of positives growing up without technology. For example our mistakes would be captured and stored forever to come back and haunt us. We didn’t have the social media pressure to look and be a certain way.
How much is your rent OP?
Yeah I’d much rather be an adult now then let’s say 1968.
I would say outside of financial reasons you are correct we got high tech more diverse lifestyles exc made social progress that has never been seen before
i love all the children enrolled at the school I am at that have been given an ipad every day for a good chunk of their lives who now don’t have the dexterity or strength to properly hold a crayon. technology rules!
Lol lies and deceit.
Tf will technology help you with if your family is starving
Any mature person would agree.
My guy. I can’t afford to have kids with my soon to be wife because child care is INSANE. What are you going on avout
I’d have to disagree a lot lol, especially in America. People can barely afford to support themselves let alone a whole child, medicine is extremely expensive so if that child (god forbid) ends up born with some sort of disability or medical issues that require things like surgery, medicine, or anything like that then that could send a small family into mounds of debt. There are rights being taken away, people can’t afford homes, people can’t find jobs. Also, the whole technology argument isn’t good either, take it from someone who grew up with unrestricted internet access, it is more of a curse than a blessing. And as someone who works with young children I am seeing first hand how technology is negatively impacting children. This isn’t a better time to be an adult, it’s just as bad as other times just with different struggles and different strengths, and all of this isn’t even covering climate change and our dying earth
‘Luxuries’ are cheap (phone/ gaming/ fancy coffee/ etc) but that’s intentional so people won’t revolt when they’re turned into wage slaves. What we need is the leisure time (among other things) our ancestors had even if they had to work harder physically.
Did a landlord post this?
The economy makes those luxuries rather difficult to enjoy, almost impossible for some. Frankly, living in a world where you have all these things you can never enjoy or experience in your life is more depressing than them simy not existing.
I disagree.
The 1950s were the best time to be alive, adult or not. I missed it, having been born in 1960, but my 3 older siblings agree with me.
The economy makes those luxuries rather difficult to enjoy, almost impossible for some. Frankly, living in a world where you have all these things you can never enjoy or experience in your life is more depressing than them simy not existing.
“Sure, people have less free time, work more jobs to make ends meet, live in smaller homes and get trapped in a rent cycle more often and eat less well because food costs more, but goddam if our phones aren’t cooler.”
😂
This is either rage bait or humble bragging as a rich person.
It’s probably the worst time in the last 100 years to be an adult.
I whole heartedly agree thats its the best time to be an adult. However, I think the term “children” has mostly changed. Children are only children until they get access to the internet. Then, they are just smaller, shittier mini humans. The internet has killed children. They don’t exist anymore in the sense of their childhood. That childhood is gone; traded for the WWW.
I get your point, but what I’m hearing from teachers these days says otherwise. Kids have been struggling for a few years to a decade now, and apparently, it’s only getting worse. If today was better, kids would be doing better, and they’re not.
Things being more convenient doesn’t equal better.
Naah, I would’ve said that for the previous generation. Growing up in the 70s must have been dope. Shit started getting hard after 10s. Technology hit a sweet spot before social media and the internet was super fun back then, especially YouTube before being aquired by Google. After that users started to become products and we are getting progressively more enslaved by it.
This is true for even being alive.
Ppl have it so good they can spend their days complaining online instead of struggling to eat.
Truly unpopular yet true. Well done
Log off, Elon.
Yeah I don’t think our children who will be suffering the worst effects of climate change will agree
Consensus here is obviously tech is doing far worse than better for us as a society . It starts ruining kids now from the beginning vs previous generations where it was much more limited
The average person’s purchasing power has not gone down either
Loonngggg faaarrrrtttttttt
You make a whole lot of assumptions that those are the things that make people truly happy. Hint…. It isn’t
Across the entire world, yes, things have gotten better as developing nations have learned to manage civilization better. However, in my world things have only gotten harder for adults throughout my lifetime.
This is an unpopular opinion, because so many live in contrast to it. Kids don’t get to enjoy being kids, learning how to play and interact socially, or grow into well balanced humans.
Instead, parenting is now letting kids “learn technology” by handing over a phone to a three year old so they can play Minecraft. Parents who actually try to raise their kids with some modicum of manners, diligence, or respect are pariahs for instilling some discipline and restraint.
I had the same thoughts when I was a kid. I wouldn’t want to go back to earlier years.
Economically this is false. You need to work more, be more educated to have a job that pays proportionally less and housing costs proportionally more.
As far as the technology goes, that’s very much dependant on perspective. In my perspective the use of technology and social media is a part of the reason so many kids have mental issues and lack social skills. Both those points are also backed up by studies. Kids do have more social and mental issues.
About 40 years ago
I’d argue while more luxuries exist, the average person probably gets less luxuries than in the early 90s to early~mid 2000s. Less adults can afford to own their own home, so that is now considered a luxury where-as even off of just a High School education owning a home was just a normal thing 20~30 years ago. I wish I was born 20 years earlier tbh.
People talk about boomer years being so great. But a lot of them got drafted and died in Vietnam. At least for Americans.
Gen X had it pretty good tho
Are you high?
The pessimistic fallacy is definitely a thing, so I think I’ll agree that people seem to think things are way worse today than they were before even though that’s not really the case. I will say that many adult milestones (graduating college, buying a home, having children) seem so impossible to me (26m) but we’re much more accessible by my parents at this age in the 80’s.
I don’t fully agree but I still wouldn’t want to live in any other decade if I could choose. Equality has never been better (hope it stays), we have more knowledge readily available than the generations before, tech to help with daily tasks, etc. Not a perfect world but we can work on that.
Downvote me if you think I‘m soo privileged and out of touch but I wouldn’t want to give up technological + social advancement for slightly cheaper groceries.
Either you are really young or are looking way back. The 90s and 2000s before 08 makes this seem like dystopia. You know, being able to rent, work and not stress about cost of living going sky high.
80$ videogames, food costing a shitload, political unrest and tribalism, AI. I’m not saying modern life is bad but its for sure a downgrade since the 2000s.
Its not a stretch to say that future (and current honestly) generations will NEVER own a home, as in home ownership is going to be a generational thing, property costs and insane right now.
I think, if you are in a financial situation to have a kid, and emotionally intelligent to be able to raise that child properly, then yeah now is going to be better than before. I think the main problem is that fewer and fewer people are going to be able to reach the point where they can raise children properly, and we’re going to find more and more children being raised in substandard ways
Globally sure. In America? Fuck no
Technological advancement does not automatically mean improved quality of life, and the reduction of global poverty statistics look a lot worse when you take China out of the equation.
>life has never been better,
In my opinion, this was always true until the 90s. Since the internet became inescapable, things have gone downhill faster and faster. Now, the top 1% have much more power than they had before because they have access to all the data they need, as well as the means to control us in many different ways. Also, it’s impossible to be a private person without looking weird, and every step you take into the spotlight can be your last. There’s no way to play safe anymore, as everything depends on some deeply flawed online system that can change at any moment. I’m sorry for the bleak view, but I find it difficult to see it differently.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
depends on the aspect of life. some aspects are easier, some are harder. the mental side is especially hard, hardest its probably ever been. the average person is bombarded with information every day of their life. social media is well known for damaging the psyche of adults, thats even worse for children who are still developing their brains. the 24h news cycle fucked up a lot of things making people both paranoid and apathetic at the same time for people who experienced it as adults and now kids who grew up with it being increasingly more negative are doomscrolling. i fall into that age range and despite turning 20 i feel like some kid and ive seen the same from many people we just dont feel like we have a future
Better time to be a parent, yes
Better time to be a child, no.
Well these are the end times as they keep bleating so ……yeah
I offer the counter-position that we “society” have largely forgot how to be intrinsically happy and our social network has fundamentally been altered for the worse.
We look to social media and seek the approval of others, often strangers, to determine whether or not we should be happy.
We have largely destroyed our closest in-person relationships, in favor of digital ones. And now we spend all our time comparing ourselves to other people, not knowing they’re doing the same thing; sitting in their lonely small apartment, trying to pic the perfect selfie to upload to the ‘gram to show everyone how cool and happy they are.
Have a few kids rn and let us know if your opinion changes.
Sure there was, like 10 years ago
Adults in the 90s ans early 2000s will disagree.
We have a solid life now, sure shit is going to the pooper a bit bit it’s still pretty fucking crazy how good things are right now.
People are just whingy little twats that want to blame the world for their shit life rather than take some responsibility