>>509633085
People have been socialized from the cradle to spend all their money and time in the pursuit of commercially available status symbols, aka "consuming product". Having a pet is a significantly less radical diversion from this than actual family formation, while satisfying the same instincts.
>muh too expensive waah
The least affordable things in the world are those people do not want to spend on.
The child-free Darwin award recipients do not have any more free time and money than families, they just spend it on self-aggrandizing distractions that they are conditioned to enjoy.