The smartphone theory of birth rate decline doesn't hold up

In a new piece for the Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch—author of a criminally misleading and data-torturing article about conscientiousness last year—suggests that "the most recent [birth rate] plunge appears connected with our use of technology." He notes that in the past 15 years, birth rates have been falling "across different cultures and levels of economic development." And what unites all these disparate countries? The use of smartphones, of course.

It sounds so obvious! That is, until you consider the other things that have united many countries over the last few decades.