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May 2025
54m 17s

How the iPhone Drove Men and Women Apart

NEW YORK TIMES OPINION
About this episode

What would make you want to have more children? This week on “Interesting Times,” Ross Douthat speaks with Dr. Alice Evans, a social scientist who is as concerned about the global decline in fertility as he is. The two discuss why this isn’t just a gender issue — it’s “a solitude issue” – and whether there’s a way to bring relationships back.

  • 02:03 - What are the stakes of declining fertility?
  • 06:41 - Alice's master theory for why birth rates are falling
  • 09:04 - There are too many single people
  • 10:27 - We can thank technology for the coupling crisis
  • 12:58 - The digital segregation of men and women
  • 16:31 - Men have less to offer these days
  • 20:11 - What can bring the sexes back together
  • 24:31 - Could Hollywood help fix the problem?
  • 25:46 - Can the government incentivize people to have babies?
  • 27:30 - What role does religion play in all this?
  • 28:59 - The role of IVF
  • 40:50 - Does the fantasy of youth impact the numbers?
  • 43:43 - The world in 2080...

(A full transcript of this episode is available on the Times website.) 

Thoughts? Email us at interestingtimes@nytimes.com.

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