Are Smartphones Curbing Birthrates?

U.S. birthrates began falling in 2007 and have fallen ever since. The iPhone was released that same year. Coincidence? Researchers suspect not—and they have tried to prove it.

AT&T’s rollout could be the key. Until February 2011, the iPhone was available only on that carrier. In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Middlebury College economist Caitlin Myers and Ezekiel Hooper compared the fertility rate of counties with high AT&T coverage pre-2011 with counties that had little to no coverage.

• They concluded that iPhones weren’t the only cause—but they were a major factor, especially among those ages 15 to 24.

Why? Myers put forward several ideas:

• Young people met in person less and so had sex and became pregnant less.
• iPhones meant easier access to information about contraception and abortion.
• iPhones made pornography easier to access, which became a substitute for sex.

Spiritual sickness lies at the root of declining birthrates. It’s a reflection on the decline of families, masculinity, femininity, morale and confidence in the future, and a host of other causes.

Smartphone use has helped transform society in line with these trends.

• Many young men fear being shamed or seen as creepy if they ask a woman out in person. Dating apps are considered the only safe way to go. Yet those dating apps bring their own problems, with men and women trying to customize the perfect partner, insisting they meet a set of empirical, visible, measurable and, therefore, shallow characteristics.
• This shift likely would not have happened without smartphones.

A much deeper spiritual attack on family comes from the one the Bible calls “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4), Satan the devil, who hates children and family. The July 2025 issue of the Philadelphia Trumpet states:

The devil is in control right now, and he is angry. The Bible makes clear that he was never given the power to reproduce himself as humans can. And he was never offered the future mankind has been offered. Because of this, he hates people of every age, sex, race and nation. And he has done all he can to pervert and destroy humanity, and he has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9).

This simple fact explains so much about the modern world. Satan’s leadership explains why mankind can’t avoid war. It explains why our leaders are corrupt and our nations are divided against each other. It explains why child abuse, spouse abuse, substance abuse, depression, hopelessness and suicide are ubiquitous. And it helps explain why so many today choose not to have children.

That same evil being influences social trends and technological developments. His influence has led man to turn modern technology to evil, destructive uses.

Yet the decline in birthrates will be reversed. To learn more, read “Heading Into a Baby-Free World.”