For many years now, a dark question has haunted parents, teachers, the internet, and media institutions: What’s wrong with young men?
Why, people ask, are boys so politically extreme, spouting misogynist rhetoric, and increasingly drawn into risky crypto schemes and online gambling? How did they become so lonely, with their depression symptoms often overlooked? The male youth vote broke for Trump in the 2024 election following a GOP campaign built on naked appeals to meathead machismo. Yet there are signs that his second term in office has done little to stem the anger of Gen Z men, whose support for the president is now plummeting.
The most common explanation of these interrelated phenomena is that younger men have banded together online under the umbrella of something known as the “manosphere,” usually conceived as an organic right-wing rebellion driving the culture wars. A new study, however, suggests that this is entirely backward: The digital ecosystem that produces red-pilled men is less of a movement than it is a pyramid scheme.
I know, and I’m explicitly trying to avoid that. That’s kinda why I point at socialization. The implication is that some base level of social skills development should probably happen at a young age, and our schooling system is very much under equipped for the task.
Personally, I went to school elsewhere, and my schooling was very much focused on science and math. This was good from a career perspective, not so much everything else.
I wasn’t accusing you of doing so, just to be clear!
It’s something I ponder and read about a lot as a mom to a boy. I see so many positives in how he interacts with the world along with his peers. So it’s a question that I come back to time and again. Where are we losing these boys?
Around age 14-15, in my case. Probably a bit earlier, now. That’s when I started picking up on my relative lack of friendships and social skills, and started looking for answers to improve both. Then again, I also moved around a lot in my life, so that was almost certainly a factor.
Moving around certainly doesn’t help in that regard. Sorry that you weren’t able to put roots down at that age, so to speak.
Eh, that was before phones, too. So, I was only comparing myself to other kids in the same school, not whatever instafacechat put in front of me. That’s why I assume it starts younger, now.