Quote from: TDos on Jan 31, 2025, 04:43 PMWho would ever confuse marriage with trying to impress people, conform or collect status? Sounds almost like a weak mind falling for whatever they've been spoon fed online or by their parents of friend or whatever.

There are many cultures where family will exert significant pressure on their kids to get married. In order not to disappoint their parents and family some people will yield to such social pressure and marry out of some sense of obligation. Marrying under those circumstances has a significant chance of becoming an unhappy marriage. What's worse, it is often these same cultures that divorce is frowned upon meaning that there are lots of people stuck in unhappy marriages. On paper these marriages may seem "successful" because they didn't divorce but dig beneath the surface and often reality will paint a different picture.

These type of pressures existed way before the advent of social media so it wouldn't be fair to blame it on that although I would agree social media does contribute to this social pressure. Also worth bearing in mind that until recently there was social stigma about remaining single which was bad enough that it could effect your job prospects.

It still exists today because think, how would people react to a US president who was a single? Do you think their marriage status (or lack thereof) impact their presidential campaign? People look more favorably to married men or woman and for the highest ranking jobs it can still make a difference. At the end of the day marriage and by extension kids is a marker of success in society. People want to appear successful in the eyes of others so the desire to marry is partly motivated to gaining social status.