Math Instructor Jeong Seungje's Remark During Lecture Sparks Controversy
"SNS Now Only Fuels Hypocrisy and Frustration"
"In My Time, Even During Poverty, People Had Babies"
Popular online math instructor Jeong Seung-je has drawn attention by pointing to social networking services (SNS) as a cause of the worsening low birthrate problem in South Korea. He criticized the SNS culture of showing off for deepening the relative deprivation felt by ordinary people.
On the YouTube channel where videos related to 'math top instructor' Jeong Seung-je are posted, a clip from the 14th shows him mentioning the low birthrate issue during a lecture. In the video, Jeong said, "Hotel? Omakase? Golf? It's all just showing off," adding, "Back in our day, those words didn’t even exist. It was unimaginable."
He continued, "There wasn’t a single Ferrari in our country. We were all poor back then, but people had many babies," and claimed, "Now everyone is well off, so why aren’t they having children? It’s because of SNS."
Jeong Seung-je pointed out, "(The problem with SNS) is that it makes you mistakenly believe others are better off than you," adding, "The faces you see on SNS are all fake and deceptive; people usually only smile when taking pictures and become gloomy afterward. It makes you feel like you’re the only unhappy one, like you’re the only one who can’t raise kids well."
He went on, "When you look at SNS, all you see are photos of people playing with their kids at hotels," and said sharply, "(I) can’t play like that no matter how much I earn. It costs over 1 million won a day, how could I afford that?"
Jeong Seung-je, one of the top instructors in South Korea with over 9 million cumulative students, is also known for his high salary. When he appeared on a JTBC variety show last month, he once mentioned that his annual salary is "above 10 billion won."
He urged again, "A one-night stay at a hotel shown on Instagram costs 1 million won, and if you add omakase, two people spend about 2 million won a day," and said, "Don’t trust SNS."
Netizens who watched his video responded with empathy. One netizen pointed out, "The life displayed on SNS is not something ordinary people can enjoy daily. It only unnecessarily fosters guilt and deprivation regarding children." Another agreed, saying, "I recently quit Instagram because it only increased my feelings of self-loathing."
Korean Parents Face Heavy 'Childcare Burden'... Some Don’t Even Have One Child in Their Lifetime
A neonatal intensive care unit in an obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]
South Korea’s fertility rate continues to hit record lows. According to the population trend statistics for March 2023 recently released by Statistics Korea, the total fertility rate expected for one woman of childbearing age over her lifetime was 0.81 in the first quarter (January to March) of this year. This means that couples are having less than one child in their lifetime.
This is also the lowest total fertility rate ever recorded for a first quarter. It dropped further from the previous low of 0.87 in the first quarter of last year. The domestic total fertility rate has not exceeded 1.0 since the first quarter of 2019.
The biggest reason both men and women avoid childbirth is financial burden. According to a survey conducted in September last year by the Korea Population, Health and Welfare Association targeting 1,047 young people aged 19 to 34, the top reason for avoiding childbirth was "economic reasons such as childcare and education costs" (57%). This was followed by "not wanting to sacrifice my life" (39.9%) and "society is not an environment where children can be raised well" (36.8%).
This is somewhat related to the claim that the flashy display culture commonly seen on SNS fuels the relative deprivation of young parents.
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