{"id":590,"date":"2026-06-20T07:07:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=590"},"modified":"2026-06-20T07:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T07:07:38","slug":"are-iphones-dialing-up-the-birth-dearth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=590","title":{"rendered":"Are iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When I call you up, your line\u2019s engaged<\/em><\/p>\n

I have had enough, so act your age<\/em><\/p>\n

We have lost the time that was so hard to find<\/em><\/p>\n

And I will lose my mind<\/em><\/p>\n

If you won\u2019t see me . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

Time after time<\/em><\/p>\n

You refuse to even listen<\/em><\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t mind<\/em><\/p>\n

If I knew what I was missing<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014The Beatles, \u201cYou Won\u2019t See Me\u201d<\/p>\n

As one heads into senescence, the milestones begin to fade in the rearview mirror. Yet every now and again, something jars the memory to refocus your recognition of such milestones and on how time has truly flown.<\/p>\n

Read more Tulsi Gabbard Releases Bombshell Files Alleging Fauci Helped Spark COVID Pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently, I was reminded that nearly an entire generation of Americans has been born after the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. As a Gen Xer born before the introduction of the answering machine, I felt the weight of my sixty years, along with a gnawing anxiety about the future.<\/p>\n

No, not because I won\u2019t be around all that much longer. Despite the myths of the ubiquitous cult of youth promoted by our callow commercial culture, the increasing aches and pains accompanying my journey into old age are an insistent reminder that no one lives forever. Rather, my concern is how few Americans will be born to replace me and the other older members of our aging nation.<\/p>\n

As reported by Elise Winland in Zeale News, a new study suggests the 2007 introduction of the iPhone has played a significant role in the declining U.S. fertility rate.<\/p>\n

Written by Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper and issued by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the title of the working paper says it all: \u201cIs the iPhone Birth Control? Causal Evidence from AT&T\u2019s 2007\u20132011 Carrier Monopoly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study\u2019s methodology is straightforward, as are its implications for our nation. As succinctly explained by Ms. Winland: \u201cThe paper draws on a natural experiment created by Apple\u2019s exclusive deal with AT&T. When the iPhone launched in June 2007, it was available only on AT&T\u2019s network until February 2011, giving researchers a way to compare areas with different levels of early iPhone access.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this deal was fortuitous for the researchers, the consequences were disastrous for the nation\u2019s birth rate. According to Myers and Hooper:<\/p>\n

The diffusion of the iPhone deepened the decline in births among women under 30 while suppressing the rise in births among older women. Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33\u201352% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15\u201344. National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.<\/p>\n

Importantly, Myers and Hooper are not asserting that the iPhone is the sole cause of the steep decline in America\u2019s birth rate, which they cite as having dropped by 22 percent since 2007, again, the year of the iPhone\u2019s introduction. For, as Winland notes, the researchers believe the nation\u2019s of 53.1 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 \u201ccannot be fully explained by the common explanations such as the Great Recession, increased access to contraception, rising housing and childcare costs, and delayed marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Obama Center Opening Ceremony Land Acknowledgement Draws Ridicule, Mockery<\/a><\/p>\n

The researchers do argue that \u201cstudies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5\u20138.0% at ages 15\u201319 and 3.2\u20136.6% at ages 20\u201324, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts.\u201d (It is worth noting that the iPhone had a salubrious impact on reducing teen pregnancies; however, the enduring detrimental effects stemming from the loss of social interaction and its accompanying skills will be carried into the future by today\u2019s teens.)<\/p>\n

Anyone with a cursory acquaintance with Marshall McLuhan\u2019s work will see his dictum, \u201cthe medium is the message,\u201d at work here. Every new technology affects human beings, both in how they interact with that technology and in how they subsequently interact\u2014or fail to interact\u2014with other people by using it.<\/p>\n

The math\u2014specifically subtraction\u2014is elementary: by spending more time in your virtual cocoon, you have less time for interacting with real human beings. One must therefore consider how much of the iPhone\u2019s contribution to the birth dearth stems from the technology\u2019s unconscious effects on its users. Indeed, unlike, say, birth control or a career choice, the iPhone is not being used deliberately to delay or prevent pregnancy. Rather, the birth dearth is exacerbated because the iPhone user is more rapt with the device and the stimulation it provides than by another person. After all, there are only so many hours in the day\u2014and night.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the birth rate continues its decline. It is an indicator of national health. An optimistic, future-oriented nation has at least a replacement birth rate, if not a growing one. A declining nation has a declining birth rate. In America today, the atomization of our citizenry and its accompanying anomie continue apace, as algorithmically personalized prison cells push us out of gen pop and into solitary confinement. Thus does the insidious, circular logic of the siren song of decline become the mantra: life is unfair, inequitable, and horrible, so it is better\u2014in fact, virtuous\u2014not to bring a new life into this morass of meaninglessness.<\/p>\n

The result of this is the declining birth rate found in both the United States and Europe, where the apostles of postmodernism hold sway, filling the perceived vacuity of modernity with a creed that holds the most \u201ctolerant\u201d belief is to believe in nothing\u2014including one\u2019s inherited civilization. A postmodern generation taught to loathe itself does not care to procreate. For what better way to reject the meaningless future than by making sure there are no succeeding generations to perpetuate it?<\/p>\n

While my bachelor\u2019s degree is only in political science, and despite all the technological advances during my lifetime\u2014including the internet, social media, AI, and the answering machine\u2014I nonetheless feel confident in declaring, \u201cYou can only make a baby in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

A healthy nation prizes real life over a virtual world. It doesn\u2019t have a birth dearth. And I\u2019m inclined to believe it has more answering machines\u2014or at least call waiting\u2014and fewer smartphones.<\/p>\n

I had to interrupt and stop this conversation<\/em><\/p>\n

Your voice across the line gives me a strange sensation<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to talk when I can show you my affection<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, I can\u2019t control myself . . .<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t leave me hanging on the telephone<\/em><\/p>\n

Hang up and run to me<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh, hang up and run to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Blondie, \u201cHanging on the Telephone\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan\u2019s 11th Congressional district from 2003 to 2012. He served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles, a frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars, and a cohost of <\/em>The John Batchelor Show, among sundry media appearances.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Democratic Socialists Gain Ground in Major City Races<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I call you up, your line\u2019s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won\u2019t\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nAre iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth? - Urban Economy news<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=590\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth? - Urban Economy news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I call you up, your line\u2019s engaged I have had enough, so act your age We have lost the time that was so hard to find And I will lose my mind If you won\u2019t\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=590\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Urban Economy news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-20T07:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/be7753cb687f443815cc81e8407f68ad\"},\"headline\":\"Are iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-20T07:07:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590\"},\"wordCount\":1207,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0e8d750592421c3b1411486a2ff5297d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/urbaneconomynews.com\\\/?p=590\",\"name\":\"Are iPhones Dialing Up the Birth Dearth? 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