{"id":743384,"date":"2026-06-18T00:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T00:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743384\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T00:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T00:43:11","slug":"why-smartphones-arent-to-blame-for-the-falling-fertility-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743384\/","title":{"rendered":"Why smartphones aren\u2019t to blame for the falling fertility rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"anchor-eb3ac7\" class=\"body-graf\">Too many Americans are \u201cunder-babied,\u201d Dr. Mehmet Oz has said. He and other Trump administration officials frame the falling fertility rate as a crisis, fueling debates about what\u2019s causing the decline. One argument gaining traction recently is that smartphones have made people less social and therefore less likely to have sex. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,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\" alt=\"NBC News Icon\" class=\"styles_icon__wRwWv\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB styles_textLarge__qlzwu\">Subscribe to read this story ad-free    <\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_text__daaVB\">Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2026-01\/arrow-f55fa5.svg\" alt=\"arrow\" class=\"styles_arrow__tnruW\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Too many Americans are \u201cunder-babied,\u201d Dr. Mehmet Oz has said. He and other Trump administration officials frame the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,63,203,105],"class_list":["post-743384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}