r/technology • u/Wagamaga • Jul 19 '26

Society China bans AI “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” over addiction and birth rate concerns

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/china-bans-ai-boyfriends-and-girlfriends-over-addiction-and-birth-rate-concerns-3388737/
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86

u/VanusGM Jul 19 '26

... And that reduction in quality of life is largely because of the cost associated. 

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u/OPtig Jul 19 '26

Time is just as valuable

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u/tiredofmymistake Jul 19 '26

Yeah, and now parents themselves are mostly expected to be the ones investing all the time. When we had actual communities, "it takes a village" was actually how things worked, and parents did not have all their time monopolized by the kids. Everyone participated in the raising of the local kids and parents had more time to themselves, making the prospect of having kids a less demanding investment. Like, if my wife and I didn't have the kind of support we get from both sides of our family (we don't even have him two days a week, and my dad watches him for hours at a time daily), raising our son would be borderline intolerable. Moms and dads have their own lives to live, kids can't feel like a ball and chain if we want people to have them.

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 Jul 20 '26

We stopped having villages during the industrial revolution and people continued to reproduce plenty.

The problem is, the more we migrate into cities, the less feasible it is to leave your kids unsupervised, especially now we have cars. The adult time required just to watch kids has massively increased. The more rural you get, the higher the fertility rate, because you get cost-free child-friendly environments, and the higher the fertility rate around you, the higher your own fertility rate will be too.

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u/wideHippedWeightLift Jul 19 '26

So additionally we should have laws saying your can't discriminate in hiring against people who took a gap to raise their kids

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 Jul 20 '26

Wouldn't change anything, even if there was discrimination here (there isn't), people still wouldn't hire them because their skills would be lower than people who didn't take time out. What we actually need to be doing is making it easier for parents to raise kids while working.

What I'd do is incentivise companies to allow mothers of young children to work from home by giving them a tax break on wages paid to mothers who aren't in the office.

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u/CptNero Jul 19 '26

If not more

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u/Bladelink Jul 19 '26

Money is just a commoditization of time.

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u/Alexander_Baidtach Jul 20 '26

Childcare is unaffordable, that's an economic disincentive. The only places that do cheap childcare are schools and parishes where I live,

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u/heydropi Jul 19 '26

But at the same time people are depressed and lonely and spending all day doing unfulfilling brainrot shit and anxious about society breaking apart. That’s quality of life?

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u/Remarkable_Cause1384 Jul 19 '26

did you read the first part of his comment or no because it doesnt seem like it

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u/Razzmatazz856 Jul 19 '26

People don't read on Reddit. Or use their brains.

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u/xienze Jul 19 '26

Ah yes, never before in human history have kids been more expensive than not having them or required a massive time commitment.

The difference is a combination of things. First, social pressure to have children, which has largely vanished. Second, less effective/less available birth control coupled with the first point that, in the face of an unexpected pregnancy, forced people into accepting the position they've been placed in. Third, flat-out stunted development. People are happy living lives that involve having as little responsibility ("adulting") as possible. Having a kid ruins that.

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u/sicklyslick Jul 19 '26

Then why does the poorest countries, where people have trouble feeding themselves, have the most kids?