You’re pretty, you should have babies
Why I don’t want to have kids, so get off my back
Drafted in 2020 but still 100% relevant.
People always say to me when are you going to have kids? You’re pretty and you just got married, it’s time for kids. When I respond with well kids might not be in the plan, I’ve never really wanted them. People start to look at me funny and say oh you’re young, you will change your mind. They say your whole purpose for being on this earth is to procreate. Blah blah blah.
The reality is that it’s 2020 and we are in a pandemic with no end in sight. The reality is that we live in a world of misinformation readily available to us on multiple platforms. The reality is that technology has come so far to where these platforms are showing us what we think we want to see by playing off our every search, our every 2–3 seconds linger on a post or an advertisement. Algorithms. The reality is that the country is more divided and chaotic than it’s ever been in history.
The reality is that hospitalizations from suicidal attempts is up 189% for pre-teens (10–14 years old) since 2010.
2010–2011 was the first time that kids had social media on their cell phones in middle school. This was around the time I graduated high school.
I had a cell phone in middle school but it was only for rides and so my mom could get a hold of me while I was out playing multiple sports after school. I was always gone on tournaments and such. It was the flip phone that you had to press the number 3 times to complete your sentence when texting. No social media. I had to wait until I got home to get in the dial-up computer to check my MySpace.
When I was in school, the perfect selfie and the number of likes it received was not a thing. My friends weren’t worried about posting the perfect pic to show everyone where they were and who they were with. We weren’t worried about the lighting or carrying selfie sticks with us on vacations.
The reality is that this rise in suicidal attempts, low self-esteem, and depression in young girls is only going to get worse until society wakes up.
My reality is that I can’t imagine working on a precious piece of art for 9 months to bring it into the world to love and protect with my entire life just for them to become a 12-year-old girl that obsesses with likes on IG and posting pics of her food before she eats it. My reality is that I already feel I was born a decade too late and can’t imagine having a child during a time where everyone gets everything for free and everyone is a winner because we don’t want to exclude anyone. That’s just not what I want.
Now I know that I would have a say in shaping my child and teaching them right from wrong and morals. I understand that my child would have a village to help me raise them and make sure that we do what we can for them to grow up in a great environment, but that’s not enough nowadays.
So the question is why would I want to bring a kid into this mess of a shattered life we have here?
The reality is that technology is only getting smarter the more we scroll and like things. The scary part is that these social media platforms have made you believe that you are in control of what you’re seeing when you scroll.
I don’t trust this world with my own future right now, so It’s hard for me to imagine bringing a child into this. I just wish people would leave me alone about it so that I can live my life however it is meant to be lived.
Thanks for reading my rant!
