Child-free lifestyles: Tik Tok and the Anglo-Saxons: Who, according to the ideologues, is preventing Belarusians from having children?

 

19.10.2026

 

Article published on the ru.belsat.eu website

 

Unmarried and childless people were once considered “socially inferior”, changing partners was “truly frightening” and the Anglo-Saxons were among those who were behind the destruction of the traditional family. Such claims can be found in the October guidelines on family values. Young people, intellectuals and business employees are offered somewhat different explanations as to why Belarusians need to start a family and have children. Belsat has seen the guidelines and discovered what ideologues consider to be the main threats to Belarusian families and what issues they themselves acknowledge.

 

“Living for oneself” is a dangerous mindset

 

The October Single Information Day is dedicated to the theme of “Traditional Belarusian Values: Family, Society and State”. Basic material, a keynote presentation, along with separate versions of speeches, were prepared for information and outreach groups, targeted at young people, intellectuals and workers in the real economy.

 

One of the main goals is to persuade Belarusians, especially young people, not to put off starting a family and having children. The authors of the youth guide acknowledge that the new generation sees their life’s priorities differently.

 

“Today’s youth is highly pragmatic and rational. They weigh their decisions carefully, choosing the most effective paths for their future development and putting off starting a family until later. The younger generation typically strives for independence, prioritising personal comfort and self-development over rigid boundaries”, the document states.

 

You might think that having a rational approach to one’s life is only to be welcomed. But the independence of young people worries ideologists, who are particularly troubled by their desire to live life to the full and only then to think about having children.

 

Social media and popular culture encourage people to swap stable values for fleeting pleasures. In Belarus, despite the existence of common, cultural and moral traditions, young people are sometimes swayed by the idea that getting married and having children is optional and difficult to reconcile with the egocentric lifestyle popular on social media. One such example is the attitude of “live for yourself”, which doesn’t include marriage or having children”, the authors argue.

 

“This state of affairs cannot be ignored by the State”, warn the ideologues.

 

 

 

Tik Tok, the luxury lifestyle and the alarming turnover of partners

 

The authors of the youth manual consider social media to be one of the root causes of unhealthy life attitudes.

 

“Social media is becoming an extremely manipulative tool, especially when it comes to the mentality of the younger generation. Teenagers using social networks are often lured by the glamourous, carefree lifestyle and success portrayed in short exciting videos. Reels, Shorts and Tik Tok videos with their fast-paced action sequences, trendy music and viral dance moves are attracting a great deal of interest”, the ideologists explain.

 

“New-fangled values imposed from the outside (being childless, having a luxury lifestyle, simplified forms of family relationships) pose serious challenges and can lead to demographic problems, a weakening of the family institution and the erosion of traditional family values and norms”, warn the guide’s authors.

 

They regard being child-free, the conscious decision not to have children, as a particularly serious threat. But personal relationships are what ideologists are most passionate about.

 

“And simplified forms of relationships (for example, cohabitation, changing partners) can reduce the level of mutual responsibility, leading to a rise in divorce rates and an increase in the number of one-parent families. This is really scary”, the manual states.

 

“The reality is frightening – we cannot allow this to happen”, say the ideologues.

 

This section provides no evidence to suggest that cohabitation or changing partners are causing demographic problems in Belarus.

 

“Socially inferior”

 

Work employees are being encouraged to draw on the experience of their ancestors. In the past, as the manual suggests, society exercised much stricter control over people’s personal lives.

 

“Our ancestors believed that marriage was the only possible form of family life, its rituals and social framework and ensuring the continuation of the family line. Marriage was regarded as one of the most important stages in a person’s life. If, for whatever reason, a man or a woman didn’t get married and remained without a family or children, they were regarded by their community as “socially inferior”, with their involvement in family rituals such as births and marriages significantly reduced”, said the authors of the company workers’ manual.

 

Consequently, society monitored marital relationships and assumed the role of public overseer to ensure people’s compliance with accepted norms, which was reflected in many traditional customs, as well as determining the themes of folk songs and the division of family responsibilities”, say the ideologists.

 

However, the authors don’t specify whether it is worth restoring, alongside traditional family values, public oversight over who gets married and who is childless.

 

Dad earns a living while mum looks after the children

 

The manual for company employees quotes the results of sociological studies conducted by the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus this year that highlight what responsibilities Belarusians associate with the roles of father and mother.

 

Sixty-two per cent of respondents believe that a good father must, above all, be the breadwinner of the family. A further 46% mentioned his important role in the child’s personal life, helping to resolve conflicts and passing on knowledge, while 43% highlight his involvement in the child’s education and physical development.

 

Expectations for mothers are different. They are more often expected to help with schoolwork (63%), take an interest in their child’s personal life (59%) and instil healthy habits (48%). However, only 13% of respondents believe that a responsible mother should help out the family financially.

 

Seventy-seven per cent of those surveyed said that spouses should take important decisions together.

 

The manual presents these results as confirmation that the traditional division of family responsibilities remains in place.

 

It’s all the fault of the Anglo-Saxons

 

For the intelligentsia, the authors have come up with a more detailed explanation for the threats to Belarusian families. Here, the focus is not only on social media and young people’s reluctance to have children, but also on geopolitics.

 

“The world of global consumption created by the international hegemon – whose role the Anglo Saxons are unwilling to relinquish – demands the most atomised society possible, broken down into individual consumers”, say the ideologues.

 

The document refers to the “Europeanisation” of the family – the focus on having only one child and the spread of the child-free movement. The authors then move on to LGBTQ+ issues.

 

“For example, most Westerners live by the ideology of the consumer society promoted by the Anglo-Saxons. They go about their daily lives and seem unaware how, at first, LGBTQ+ supporters, united and organised (for they represent a minority that is “persecuted by society”) were increasingly being represented in local European authorities, even on our district executive committees. Then, at the local level, came festivals, Pride marches, parades, press articles and TV reports – the rainbow wave that Europeans had originally viewed with a mixture of disgust and bewilderment”, says the manual for the intelligentsia.

 

The authors argue that by 2021, the Europeans had virtually lost the ability to resist these changes.

 

There is no evidence in the document to suggest there is a coordinated mechanism by which the Anglo Saxons are supposedly destroying the traditional family.

 

How many children do Belarusians themselves want?

 

The data presented in the guidelines show that many Belarusians would like to have more children than they plan to given their current circumstances.

 

In July-August this year, the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, commissioned by the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies, conducted a nationwide survey of demographic attitudes, in which 2,045 people took part.

 

Taking their personal circumstances into account, 44.3% of respondents plan or had planned to have two children, 25.2% – one, 12.2% – three and 3.5% – four or more.

 

However, in an ideal situation and if financial and other circumstances allow, 22.3% of respondents would like to have three children, and 8.7% four or more. Thus, 31% would like to have three or more children, but given their present circumstances, only 15.7% plan or had planned to have that many children.

 

The authors of the manual don’t go into any detail as to why Belarusians are reluctant to have as many children as they would like, but argue that it’s not usually a financial issue. Instead, they suggest combating the influence of social media, the child-free attitude, the luxury lifestyles and the Anglo-Saxon culture. It’s precisely these factors that are preventing Belarusians from having large families.

 

Source: https://ru.belsat.eu/96006453/chajldfri-tiktok-anglosaksy