Tuesday, August 16, 2016

America's Lost Boys

From First Things:
Young men, significantly more so than young women, are stuck in life. Research released in May from the Pew Center documented a historic demographic shift: American men aged 18-30 are now statistically more likely to be living with their parents than with a romantic partner. This trend is significant, for one simple reason: Twenty- and thirtysomething men who are living at home, working part-time or not at all, are unlikely to be preparing for marriage. Hurst’s research says that these men are single, unoccupied, and fine with that—because their happiness doesn’t depend on whether they are growing up and living life.

This prolonged delay of marriage and relational commitment often means a perpetual adolescence in other areas of life. Love and sex are arguably the best incentives for men to assert their adulthood. But in the comfort of their parents’ homes and their gaming systems, young men get to live out their fantasies without the frictions of reality.

What does that sound like? It sounds like pornography. Could it be that one reason that millions of young American men feel satisfied with their perpetual adolescence is that their sexual appetites are sated by a steady diet of internet porn? No woman they could meet at the coffee shop or on the church camping trip could possibly compete with these perfectly toned, perfectly undemanding models. The mild embarrassment a man might feel at looking real girls in the eye after days of masturbatory absorption in fantasy perfection is avoidable, if he simply doesn’t get out. (Read more.)
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1 comment:

julygirl said...

There are plenty of married men who thrive on internet Porn. I believe the problem with young uncommitted males is that young men do not want to take on the burden of supporting a family and all that that involves. They prefer to live in an ongoing Peter Pan stage with the other lost boys. Young women on the other hand pursue goals that aim toward career and marriage. They know the importance and connection of self actualization and self esteem. The age when a father urged the young male out to 'find his fortune' seems to have diminished.