Specifically, it would provide one day of unpaid leave for heartbroken employees under 25, two days for those 25-35, and three days for anyone 36 or over on the theory that the older you get, the longer the recovery. All of which, as a foreigner, I find intriguing. Because a law like that in the United States would surely put most companies out of business by emptying their corridors.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m kidding. The truth is, though, that in America and elsewhere, millions of people\u2014especially young ones\u2014are foregoing romantic relationships altogether. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just not going to try anymore,\u201d one 36-year-old security guard recently confided to The Free Press<\/em><\/a>. Why? Because, he explained, \u201cIt isn\u2019t worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n Statistics confirm the prevalence of that sentiment. About 60 percent of American men aged 18 to 29 are now single, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>; up from 50 percent just five years ago. The US marriage rate is lower than it\u2019s been in over a century, with 25 percent of adults under 40 never having been married. And a full 43 percent<\/a> of young women (and 34% of men) profess no interest in dating at all.<\/p>\n Experts cite several contributing factors. Women, they say, are becoming better educated with higher incomes and therefore more discriminating in their choice of mates. Traditional male attributes such as strength, stamina, protectiveness, and courage are less valued by today\u2019s younger generation, causing discouragement among many young men.<\/p>\n Add to that the increasing tendency of youngsters to cohabitate\u2014and even have babies\u2014without the benefit of marriage, exasperated by the rise of artificially intelligent mates who some find preferable to humans.<\/p>\n \u201cI will never go back to human beings,\u201d one man told a Facebook<\/a> interviewer in Japan, where an estimated 2,000 sex dolls are sold annually at a cost of around $6,000 US each. Not to be outdone, some women are following suit. \u201cHe knows how to talk to women better than a real man,\u201d a 25-year-old Chinese office worker told Agence France-Presse<\/a>, speaking of her AI boyfriend. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a romantic relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Philippines, where divorce is illegal, attitudes are also evolving. Roughly 40.2 percent of females and 38.9 percent of males aged 26-29 are married. And the movement to legalize divorce is gaining steam. \u201cWe\u2019re saying that this is just like medicine,\u201d one Manila-based pro-divorce activist told the New York Times<\/em>.<\/a> \u201cYou only take this if you\u2019re sick, but you don\u2019t deprive those sick people of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n Filipino opinion on the matter is almost evenly divided at close to 50-50.<\/p>\n Recalling my own potentially devastating divorce experience, well, that suicide counselor ushered in a new day. Long story short: with his encouragement, I stuck around long enough to thank my cheating ex-spouse for clearing the path to my much-loved and far-better new one.<\/p>\n Could I have used a three-day vacation? Heck yeah, I might have gone fishing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n _______________________________________<\/p>\n David Haldane is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster with homes in Joshua Tree, California, and Northern Mindanao, Philippines. His latest book, A Tooth in My Popsicle, is available on Amazon<\/a>. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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