What is the ‘Childfree’ Movement? We Take an In-Depth Look at the Trending Hashtag

If you’ve had your head buried in your online gambling sessions, you might not have heard about the latest movement that is gaining traction… It’s been coined “childfree”.  For the first time in decades, birth rates are plummeting, people of childbearing age are ‘opting out’ and, in some places, there are more pets per capita than kids.  What is really going on?

Childless Women Were Stigmatised

Not too long ago, women who did not have children were stigmatised and infertility was not accepted as an excuse – it was a copout.  The role of women was simple – get married, have children and spend the rest of your life caring for the family.

If you could not bear a child, you were deemed barren, useless and basically obsolete.  Men shunned you and women pitied you.  Childless women were pariahs in their own communities.  Actions and viewpoints that in modern times seem rather archaic and barbaric.

Now, within only a few generations, more and more couples are either postponing the idea of a family, or not even considering having children at all.

Factors Driving the Childfree Movement

What is driving people to shun the idea of the nuclear family?  With everything going digital, there is plenty of time to start a family, and do the things you love, right?  Like enjoying online gambling at Springbok Casino!  Unfortunately, it’s not about ‘time’…

Some of the major factors for going childfree include rising debt, limited career opportunities and the overall spiralling cost of living.  Young people all over the world are struggling to afford even the most basic things – from medical aid to a decent home in a safe neighbourhood.

Are financial considerations the key reason though?  Well, many of these very same people were on the cusp of their adult lives when the first of two global financial meltdowns destroyed economies, job prospects and life savings.

By First World standards, let alone Third World, recovery has been slow – especially for people who could not afford an Ivy League education… or tertiary education of any kind.

Why are Birth Rates in Rich Countries Down?

Even when one takes into consideration the financial damage wreaked by two global financial crises only a decade apart, that does not explain why birth rates in rich countries like the USA, UK and Germany are tanking.

Let’s face it, when the online gambling sector is valued at a cool $60 billion, and Bitcoin has a current market capitalisation of $815 billion, there clearly is no shortage of cash to go around.  So, why are millennials becoming the poster kids of a childfree generation?

A Rapidly Degrading Natural Environment

If you believe the ideals coming from more radical groups like The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEM), it is the appalling degradation of the natural environment that is making young adults spurn the idea of having kids.

One has to question whether climate change isn’t behind the extraordinary rise of video gaming, online gambling and cryptocurrency trading.  All are device-based and largely conducted in comfortable air-conditioned environments.  That, however, is a story for another day!

We’re in the Midst of a Third Mass Extinction

Glance through the ICN Red List of Threatened Species and the proof of a planet in distress is there for all to see.  We are, indeed, in the midst of the third mass extinction.

Of the 134,000 or so species already assessed in terms of conservation status, more than 35,000 are threatened.  Some like the Javan rhino, mountain gorilla, macaw and orangutang are on the brink of disappearing… for good.

The idea of massive extinction like that is so dumbfounding, it is often easier to put the head in the sand or enjoy a bit of online gambling instead!

Future Predictions are Frightening

Future predictions are no better.  By 2048, for example, the oceans will be entirely devoid of fish.  That is just one biome on Earth that is being degraded and destroyed… as we speak.  Over the next decade, more than a quarter of the world’s insects may have evaporated into thin air.

If climate change continues on its current trajectory, scientists estimate most of Australia, and large swathes of Africa and North America, will be completely uninhabitable in around 80 years from now.

Even in the areas still viable to live in, our offspring will spend large parts of day sheltering inside – and that is when online gambling at Springbok Casino can stand them in good stead!

Drought, famine and extreme weather are the future – and hundreds of millions of children are expected to malnourished and prone to disease.  If forecasts are accurate, a constantly moving mass of 250 million or so refugees will be scouring the Earth for basic resources like water and food.

Massive Population Explosion

Right now, there are 7.9 billion people on a planet that only has the resources to sustain one fifth of that.  What is more, an estimated 180 million children world-wide are either orphaned or living in child-headed households.  They are the surplus throwaway kids who are sorely in need of love, caring and a fixed abode.

In the minds of a growing number of young people, there seems little point in bringing a child into the world when there is no real hope for a fruitful and happy life.  Never mind the chance to experience Earth as it should be… a stunningly beautiful and resource rich environment which all species cohabit.

No Kids Equals a Significantly Lower Carbon Footprint

That is one argument.  Another has to do with the estimated 56.8 tons of carbon the average person emits annually – these same stats apply to children.

Pursing a childfree existence is the one significant way of slashing the individual carbon footprint.  Playing the best RTG casino games at an online gambling platform, rather than a B&M casino, is another.  It is a preventative strategy which, when conducted on grand scale, is designed to slow global warming and give Earth a fighting chance.

From Antinatalism…

‘Childfree’ may be a catchy hashtag but the idea itself has been around for decades.  South African philosopher, David Benatar came up with the concept of ‘antinatalism’ in his book, ‘Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence’, 15 years ago!

In his tome, he suggests bringing a conscious being into the world is bad, purely because existence is synonymous with the capacity to suffer.

To Voluntary Extinction

The VHEMT is no less sympathetic about human – and environmental – suffering but more forthright in its mission.  According to the blurb on the official website, the group advocates the voluntary extinction of humankind by ceasing procreation altogether.

The idea is to allow the Earth to revive to its former glory and for a ‘less dense’ human population to enjoy a better-quality existence.  As their motto says; “May We Live Long and Die Out.”

Is the childfree movement a passing trend?  Or is it a reflection of our common psyche as it exists in 2021?  Those are questions that can only be answered several decades from now.

The Future Seems Bleak… but there is Hope

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a 2020 is a riveting documentary narrated by Sir David Attenborough himself.  He released the film as his ‘witness statement’ to the carnage that is unfolding on our planet as observed during his career spanning over six decades.

Although the documentary is sad to watch – he offers hope at the end.  He shares exactly what we need to do to reverse the damage that has been done.  It would take a collective effort, but it is possible.  So, when you take a break from your online gambling session at Springbok Casino, head over to Netflix and give this inspiring doccy a watch!