Hacker News with Generative AI: Social Trends

Modern dog ownership has redefined family and parenting (eurekalert.org)
Birth rates are declining worldwide, while dog parenting practices are gaining popularity. What does this growing “furry children” trend reveal about our societies?
Pets, Family, Social Trends, Demographics
10 points by nreece 15 hours ago | 13 comments
The Future Is Too Expensive – A New Theory on Collapsing Birth Rates (medium.com)
Birth rates are falling across the world, and no one seems to know why. But maybe the answer is simpler than we think: people don’t trust the future anymore. This essay introduces the idea of temporal inflation — a hidden force that could be reshaping civilization itself.
Demographics, Economics, Social Trends, Future
74 points by hectorchu 9 days ago | 220 comments
Americans reconsidering having children or buying a home amid economic anxiety (theguardian.com)
Americans are reconsidering major life events including marriage, having children and buying a home amid economic anxiety in the opening months of the Trump presidency, according to an exclusive poll for the Guardian.
Economics, Social Trends, Family Planning, Housing, Political Impact
5 points by rntn 11 days ago | 0 comments
The trends behind the historically low U.S. birth rate (cbsnews.com)
This week, correspondent Jon Wertheim reported from Japan, the land of declining sons and daughters.
Demographics, Population, Social Trends, Economics
15 points by MilnerRoute 14 days ago | 18 comments
Young people aren't as happy as they used to be [Global Flourishing Study] (nytimes.com)
New data collected from more than 200,000 people across the world shows that young people aren’t as happy as they used to be.
Happiness, Demographics, Social Trends, Youth, Research
44 points by marojejian 23 days ago | 76 comments
The Friendship Recession: The lost art of connecting (hks.harvard.edu)
The so-called “Friendship Recession” is making its way into the vernacular—a profound shift in how Americans experience and sustain friendships.
Social Trends, Sociology, Relationships, Human Behavior
535 points by 47thpresident 27 days ago | 446 comments
Is America's Ivy League obsession coming to an end? (thetimes.com)
Education, Higher Education, United States, Social Trends
9 points by petethomas 31 days ago | 0 comments
Half the men in Seattle are never-married singles, census data shows (seattletimes.com)
As marriage becomes less popular among younger generations, Seattle men have hit a milestone of singledom: For the first time, half of the men living in the city have never been married.
Demographics, Seattle, Marriage, Social Trends
118 points by blondie9x 40 days ago | 193 comments
MSU study finds number of US nonparents who never want children is growing (msutoday.msu.edu)
Recent data from Pew Research Center suggest that Americans are rethinking whether they want to become parents. This could be part of a long-term trend, as a research team from Michigan State University found that the percentage of nonparents in the United States who never want children has doubled over the past 20 years.
Demographics, Family, Parenting, Social Trends, Research
12 points by ivewonyoung 44 days ago | 9 comments
The death of the middle-class restaurant (nytimes.com)
The boom in American sit-down chains has come and gone. What replaced them isn’t so great for human connection.
Restaurant Industry, Social Trends, Economics
37 points by lxm 48 days ago | 70 comments
One big reason for fewer babies: phones? (vox.com)
All across the world, people are having fewer children. The birth rate is declining quickly in countries ranging from the United States to Finland to Mexico and Turkey.
Demographics, Social Trends, Technology, Family Planning
5 points by rntn 61 days ago | 0 comments
Teenagers Say Girls Are Equal to Boys in School, or Are Ahead (nytimes.com)
Reflecting a generational change, two Pew surveys show boys tend to feel discouraged in the classroom, and are less likely than girls to pursue college.
Education, Gender Equality, Youth, Social Trends, Surveys
5 points by JumpCrisscross 71 days ago | 1 comments
Welcome to the Zero Sum Era. Now How Do We Get Out? (nytimes.com)
Zero-sum thinking has spread like a mind virus, from geopolitics to pop culture.
Geopolitics, Pop Culture, Economics, Social Trends
13 points by throw0101c 82 days ago | 22 comments
Is nearly a quarter of Gen Z queer – or is something else going on? (thehill.com)
According to a new Gallup report, nearly one in four Gen Z Americans identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. That’s more than just a statistic — it’s a statement, and a troubling one, for reasons that will become clearer.
Gen Z, LGBTQ+, Social Trends, Statistics, Identity
9 points by koolba 84 days ago | 3 comments
The Airbnb/Hotel Gap: Private Common Spaces (tildes.net)
Once or twice a year, my friends and I do a "Friend Getaway" where we rent an Airbnb and all communally nerd out.
Airbnb, Travel, Social Trends
12 points by PaulHoule 86 days ago | 3 comments
Life expectancy growth stalls across Europe as England sees sharpest decline (theguardian.com)
Life expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity.
Health, Europe, England, Demographics, Social Trends
35 points by pseudolus 94 days ago | 48 comments
How America traded systematic improvement for quick wins–and lost both (population.fyi)
On a crisp morning in early 2024, deep in traditionally Democratic strongholds like the Bronx and Queens, voters shifted rightward—not out of newfound conservative conviction, but from frustration with government effectiveness.
Politics, United States, Social Trends, Government
62 points by klooney 102 days ago | 15 comments
The familiar loneliness of the Kinetoscope (resobscura.substack.com)
Lately I’ve been reading a wonderful book called The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s by the historian H.W. Brands. One takeaway: the people noting the similarities between the 2020s and the 1890s are right. From protectionism to polarization to fears of mass automation, the parallels are sometimes uncanny.
History, Technology, Social Trends
17 points by benbreen 107 days ago | 2 comments
US Pedestrian Study: We're Walking Faster, Hanging Out Less (bloomberg.com)
Pedestrian Behavior, Urban Planning, Social Trends, United States
11 points by Amorymeltzer 118 days ago | 7 comments
Young men now spend more of their free time alone than any other group (flowingdata.com)
John Burn-Murdoch, for Financial Times (paywalled), breaks down data from the American Time Use Survey to show the increase in time spent alone, specifically among young people.
Social Trends, Demographics, Youth, Free Time, Data Analysis
74 points by surprisetalk 121 days ago | 124 comments
The reason for the rise in male childlessness (bbc.com)
When the US vice-presidential candidate JD Vance made a comment about “childless cat ladies”, he evoked an image of educated, urbanite, career-minded women.
Demographics, Social Trends, Gender, Family, Politics
15 points by Qem 121 days ago | 9 comments
Why is homeschooling becoming fashionable? (goodtechthings.com)
It’s pretty disorienting to me that smart people, secular people, particularly people in tech, view homeschooling as a high-status option now.
Homeschooling, Education, Social Trends, Technology
374 points by forrestbrazeal 129 days ago | 1348 comments
The Anti-Social Century (theatlantic.com)
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
Social Trends, Sociology, Loneliness, American Culture, Politics
152 points by coloneltcb 133 days ago | 158 comments
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever (theatlantic.com)
Americans are now spending more time alone than ever. It’s changing our personalities, our politics, and even our relationship to reality.
Social Trends, Loneliness, Psychology, Politics
16 points by williamsmj 135 days ago | 1 comments
The average American spent 2.5 months on their phone in 2024 (pcmag.com)
There's a good chance that you're currently reading this article on your phone. If you’re like one of the Americans surveyed by Reviews.org, this is one of 205 times today that you’ll be checking the device in your hand.
Mobile Usage, Technology, Statistics, Social Trends
192 points by elorant 145 days ago | 202 comments
"Unprecedented" decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts (arstechnica.com)
Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.
Teenagers, Drug Use, Public Health, Social Trends
7 points by GeoAtreides 155 days ago | 6 comments
Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts (arstechnica.com)
Teen drug use continued to fall in 2024, extending a dramatic decline spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic that experts expected would reverse now that the acute phase of the global crisis is well over.
Teenagers, Drug Use, Public Health, COVID-19, Social Trends
371 points by pseudolus 157 days ago | 596 comments
Scores for adults are dropping on tests of basic skills (nataliewexler.substack.com)
An international test of adults’ “basic skills” shows that an increasing number of Americans are struggling to do moderately complex tasks that involve reading and math.
Education, Literacy, Testing, Social Trends, United States
82 points by akantler 159 days ago | 111 comments
Ask HN: Do you believe we are in a particularly chaotic time period? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: Do you believe we are in a particularly chaotic time period?
Ask HN, Current Events, Social Trends
10 points by bloomingkales 164 days ago | 17 comments
Boomers grieve not becoming grandparents–Millennials have little sympathy (independent.co.uk)
Amid falling birth rates and growing numbers of U.S. adults opting to remain child-free, boomer and Generation X grandparents are mourning the prospect of ever becoming grandparents. However, according to millennials themselves, the reasons for not having children far outweigh the disappointment their parents may feel.
Generations, Family, Social Trends, Demographics
9 points by ganzuul 167 days ago | 2 comments