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I've already written a several write ups about how to solve this. The solution to the current problems are likely combination of getting non-college educated men decent paying work, and increasing socialization. We'd also need women to be more receptive to approaches, in an era where there are too many people attempting to demonize it.
Another thing too add that I think is fascinating, that is even a blind spot of myself, is that we don't really uphold womens end of the social contract in the same way we do with men a la Lauren Chen. Its more permissable to say that men have social/moral obligations (get a job (well, yes, a bum women isnt necessarily praised either, but I think its clear that men have more pressure on them in this regard), military service, etc), but not women, (get married, obey husband, have kids.) Perhaps this double standard should be reconsidered, and applied to women as well. If one wants to shift the needle in the other direction, change material conditions (automate the jobs, build skynet, etc) and "male liberation" would follow.
Personally, I favor the former over the latter - though I would emphasize partner cooperation over just blindly obeying your husband.
I think most of your suggestions are spot on, however, one that im concerned about is the lack of incentive and ability for young adults to meet other young adults in person. The decline of cheap or free activities specifically for young adults to meet other young adults is a huge problem. Even something as simple as meeting for a meal often requires a minimum of $50 and add $10 each if you’re having wine or a mixed drink. Movies are not cheap, but also not great for getting to know the person you’re dating. Most places that people used to meet other young adults before college became the default are gone. Dances no longer happen except for in junior high. Parks are hard to get to without a car. Clubs are expensive. So then where do people end up hanging out?
Add in that people are spending more time online and more time alone at home, and it’s just hard to get the ball rolling toward family formation. If you’re isolated in your home and mostly gaming, watching TV or doomscrolling there, it’s not very likely that you’ll meet someone you want to have children with. Especially given that everyone is working and doin* chores after work. It’s like, you don’t do things with people in the real world outside of work, you don’t meet the opposite sex, not love, no marriage, no babies.
Kids used to typically drive at 16. Thank the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety we largely put the kibosh on that.
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Robert Putnam wrote extensively about third space decline in Bowling Along, these trends started long before the smart phone. I think the abundance of technology has caused third space decline. The monetization of them isn't as big a barrier at its been made out to be, indeed people were partying more in the past compared to today, its not like those things were free back then either. Hell, Putnam documented the decline of picnics! In any case, id be fine with a state policy making these spaces low cost to free in order to incentivize socialization. Going beyond that, you could begin a more authoritarian crackdown on technology. Not ideal, but I've been flirting with the idea of doing some kind of creative crack down on screen time. Im well open to (& and I'd honestly prefer) less authoritarian solutions before that.
I think the tech isn’t helping, both because it’s ubiquitous and easy to access (including being portable) but also because it’s free and frictionless. When every home has an arcade and a movie theater, it’s a harder sell to get people to go do things outside of that. Add in the money and set up time of planning a meetup and a lot of people are just going to binge Netflix at home or scroll.
One thing that I’d love to see tried is to essentially force kids in schools to join a club. So you’d have an hour of time set aside during the school day, you’d have an hour in which you would be forced to join a club and do club based activities. It could be a sport, art, robotics, anime, movies, science fiction, whatever. But you have to pick one, and you have to participate. I think this would get kids a bit more social and hopefully push them to form bonds that would last outside of school.
My son's school high school does this. He says about half of the clubs actually function as study hall.
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