While the west has gone this way, there also seems to be a strong undercurrent (at least here in Australia) of "we can't afford to have kids (yet)".
As housing has moved further out of reach of young people, some don't seem to feel their lives are stable enough to make the leap. The trend was down anyway, but the housing crisis seems to be an aggravating factor.
Yep people blame technology but its really basic economics and would be fixed by building more affordable homes.
This subject has been investigated a lot. In many countries governments make it much easier and more affordable to have children, and it doesn't seem to make any difference.
I agree, using housing as a source of wealth has broken a whole generation. When the boomers of the world start to massively die out (any year now), housing will deflate, but not spectacularly without a crisis (people don't want to settle where the cheap houses are in a bull market).