Why do a lot of women now prefer career and social media success to having a family?

I'm genuinely perplexed by this phenomenon. Is FOMO online and career aspiration so strong that it trumps having a family with a guy?? I see women that want to pursue everything, career, sports career outside that etc. No interest in having a kid seemingly and it seems quite strange to me. Maybe there is so much competition and mutual antipathy now also, that this means people don't like anyone enough. Is modern day feminism a factor also? The whole thing seems like a sad indictment of our society.

Hi I can reply from my perspective. I have no interest in a kid or family and am very career orientated.
I don’t think it’s sad at all. Some people just have different aspirations in life. For me the idea of having children has never been appealing to me. I used to babysit my cousins and I just don’t enjoy it! It’s just not for me and it’s as simple as that!
Pursuing my passion in life is what makes me happy and I get the biggest sense of fulfilment from it! I’m hoping to go into a design based career and I love creating things and doing research. I also do sports (archery) and I just enjoy it! I get to speak to lots of people, make friends and have fun doing it!
I’m not an uncaring person. I care for my friends and family it’s just not my goal to have a child. And I think that’s okay! It’s a choice at the end of the day and some people want kids and some don’t. Whatever you choose has to be right for you! And I know a career is right for me.
I’ll also say I don’t think online things have anything to do with it. I was raised without the internet and I was raised Catholic. But regardless of this I’ve always wanted a career and never kids. And I am also interested in romantic things too. It is possible to have a relationship and a successful career! It’s also possible to have a family and a successful career. There’s many women who have done it.
I think it’s great that women have the opportunity to choose what they want in life. Some women choose careers, some choose family and some both! And that’s okay. I don’t think it’s a sad indictment of our society at all, more a positive!

I'm genuinely perplexed by this phenomenon. Is FOMO online and career aspiration so strong that it trumps having a family with a guy?? I see women that want to pursue everything, career, sports career outside that etc. No interest in having a kid seemingly and it seems quite strange to me. Maybe there is so much competition and mutual antipathy now also, that this means people don't like anyone enough. Is modern day feminism a factor also? The whole thing seems like a sad indictment of our society.

I'm genuinely perplexed by this phenomenon. Is FOMO online and career aspiration so strong that it trumps having a family with a guy?? I see women that want to pursue everything, career, sports career outside that etc. No interest in having a kid seemingly and it seems quite strange to me. Maybe there is so much competition and mutual antipathy now also, that this means people don't like anyone enough. Is modern day feminism a factor also? The whole thing seems like a sad indictment of our society.

I didn't mean to judge anyone who doesn't want kids, I don't have them myself and I know that's a complex subject. But it's the constant prioritising of self promotion and a shallow dopamine hit and vague connection online to less but higher quality sincere intimate relationships that I find depressing tbh.

I'm genuinely perplexed by this phenomenon. Is FOMO online and career aspiration so strong that it trumps having a family with a guy?? I see women that want to pursue everything, career, sports career outside that etc. No interest in having a kid seemingly and it seems quite strange to me. Maybe there is so much competition and mutual antipathy now also, that this means people don't like anyone enough. Is modern day feminism a factor also? The whole thing seems like a sad indictment of our society.

I'm genuinely perplexed by this phenomenon. Is FOMO online and career aspiration so strong that it trumps having a family with a guy?? I see women that want to pursue everything, career, sports career outside that etc. No interest in having a kid seemingly and it seems quite strange to me. Maybe there is so much competition and mutual antipathy now also, that this means people don't like anyone enough. Is modern day feminism a factor also? The whole thing seems like a sad indictment of our society.

misogyny

Hi! I think the reduction in close relationships and conversation is really sad too. Can I ask why you specified women? Surely, if that for you is the focus of your depression surrounding the subject, why men who do not want to become fathers do not also fall under your question?

very interesting you position women being ambitious and having lives outside of their partner and family as a negative! do you do the same for men? 🤨

Elaborate

Well I wasn't actually referring to women with family in the op, I was specifically referring to people who find it a hinderance seemingly.

you might want to read your second sentence again 😭

historically, women have been stripped of their identity and had their existence reduced to being mothers and/or wives with little regard for their humanity. with misogyny becoming very mainstream again, we not only see a resurgence of these ideas but also so much vile, misogynistic rhetoric being openingly supported by a concerning amount boys/men, coupled with a global rise of violence against women, also perpetuated by men. as a young woman, this has put me off from not only relationships with men but also having children because i wouldn't want to bring a daughter into a world that doesn't view her as a human being beyond her reproductive capabilities or potentially having a son who is misogynstic (the likelihood of that is incredibly high because i've come to learn that misogyny is basically inescapable).
on a more positive note, i am very grateful for the work of women who have historically fought for the expansion of our rights. because of them, i can pursue my life to the fullest (or relatively compared to them). i love learning, so my goals include eventually achieving a phd. i can't speak for all women of course, but historically, and still even today, having the odds being set against us is ironically a very big source of motivation - perhaps, it's the reason women are now outcompetiting men in education.

Women are out competing men in education and it's interesting. I think professions have become more suited to female abilities but also men are extremely demotivated to be a provider for a woman these days. Whatever the reasons for that it has undeniably happened.

To attribute professions as "being more suited to female abilities" is very reductive, ignores the entrenched systemic misogyny within the job market itself, presents women as incapable of success unless they are helped and lastly, borders on being bioessentialist - what even is "female abilities"?. I am very sceptical of the validity of that point. It's also interesting you point out men being demotivated to be the provider, considering the increasing support of men towards right-wing, conservative politics. to a certain extent, I agree. I think a lot of men prefer a conservative society as they are placed at the top and reap the unpaid labour and services of women simply for being men, but they don't want to fulfil that provider role bc that involves work.