The fertility crisis appears to be a crisis of connection compounded by smartphones, says Christine Emba for the New York Times. NEW YORK: In case you needed another reason to distance yourself from your smartphone: It may lead to the eventual extinction of the human species. The plummeting birthrate is an arresting metric, and often seems like a stand-in for society’s ills. Nearly 710,000 fewer babies were born in the United States in 2025 than in 2007, and even fewer are predicted for 2026.