"deciding" is a very disingenuous word here. More like; current economics cause a lack of stability for people to move forward in their lives.
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/07/25/the-exp... ("57% of adults under 50 who say they’re unlikely to ever have kids say a major reason is they just don’t want to; 31% of those ages 50 and older without kids cite this as a reason they never had them")
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-... ("Why more U.S. adults are choosing not to have kids: 64% of young women say they just don't want children, compared to 50% of men.")
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40982392 (Educated, empowered women have less children, have them later, or no children; citations within this comment)
All of our data points in the opposite direction. The more wealth you have, and the more stability you have with government safety nets, the less likely you are to have children.
I don't think the markets influence child rearing as much as the headlines say.
Being realistic, I like the idea of a family, but I don't want it.
I grew up poor without much in the way of parents. I'm now well off, but broken. For better or worse I've perfected self-sufficiency.
Were I to start a family, what follows is worse than where things are now. More neglect, anger, and frustration. The best thing I think I can do is stop the cycle.
It would be foolish pride or hubris to think I'd be a better parent. Others will have to create more worker bees.
I don't want to sustain this hive; it already failed me. Solid 1/5 star rating. It can burn. I'm playing through.