Is Marriage Really Becoming Obsolete?

I just read this article Four in 10 say marriage is becoming obsolete  | ajc.com and I am so confused! What does this mean? Are we as a people afraid of commitment? Are we now realizing that lifetime commitment to someone else is not logical or rational thought? Or, has our society taken the concept of  ”disposable” and “independent” too far?

About 29 percent of children under 18 now live with a parent or parents who are unwed or no longer married, a fivefold increase from 1960, according to the Pew report being released Thursday. Broken down further, about 15 percent have parents who are divorced or separated and 14 percent who were never married. Within those two groups, a sizable chunk — 6 percent — have parents who are live-in couples who opted to raise kids together without getting married.

Maybe these unattached people living together with children are very committed to each other and they don’t see the need to be legally or religiously bound together. But aren’t there perks to being legally married – like lower taxes? Maybe it’s more beneficial to have one single person with no job claim the child while the person with the job claims the house. Maybe they know the tax game better than I do.

But really, why don’t couples get married anymore?