Vox’s documentary “Do I Want Kids?” discusses the different factors that impact a person’s, especially a woman’s, decision to have children based on interpreting various types of statistical data that helps the audience understand how having children will affect their lives, healths, and careers. It opens a new, more personal window to approaching the recent low fertility rate crisis by embracing the complex nature of the question “Do I want kids?”, successfully achieving its intended purpose of informing the audience of the various implications of having children using an appropriate blend of data and evaluation.

The documentary begins with short interview clips of heterosexual and LGBTQIA+ adults with the host, where the interviewees each talk about their decision to have or not have children. While the majority of them say that they are happy with their final decisions and current lives, some of them say they are not. These diverse perspectives effectively illustrate that the question of having children can be a dilemma and that the decision-making process is unique to each individual based on their personal values and beliefs.

What makes Vox’s documentary effective is its use of statistical data that is unfamiliar to the general audience. For example, the host introduces the “happiness gap” data, which shows that in many countries, including the U.S., people with children are generally unhappier than people without, and an expert discusses the possible causes of this trend. The “happiness gap” data is not common knowledge among the general public and provides a rather shocking insight for childless adults into the world of parenting. For the purpose of informing, using facts is a compelling way to allow the audience a more thorough understanding of what it might be like to be a parent – especially for non-parents since they lack the experience.

However as the hosts evaluate the significance of the data presented, the documentary loses its objectivity, making it seem like Vox is trying to discourage people from having children. This undermines the main objective of the documentary because instead of informing the audience with unbiased information, the hosts’ evaluation of the data puts having children in a negative light. After discussing the career data, showing how having children greatly impacts a female spouse’s earnings, the host, Cleo Abram, says, “...the fertility data tells you that [it is] probably the safer choice to have kids on the earlier side, and the career data implies you might take less of a hit if you have kids later, which is a little frustrating,” leaving the audience to wonder, “then is it better to not have kids at all?”.

Additionally, the documentary fails to address the low fertility rate crisis as a major social issue or develop concern and awareness over it. Approaching the parenting dilemma strictly as a personal matter, the documentary does not discuss the devastating consequences that the low fertility rate crisis can have on societies around the world.

To a large extent, however, the data presented in the documentary is accurate as they are discussed by experts in the field and allows the audience to realize why fertility rates are crashing: data reveals that parents are generally unhappier and earn less, so it makes sense that no one wants to have kids. The overall structure and information in the documentary allow it to successfully inform the audience of the various implications of having a child and hopefully help them in their own decision-making process.