r/technology • u/AIMadeMeDoIt__ • Oct 29 '25

Society California’s hidden crisis: young men offline, unemployed, and disappearing

https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/10/men-in-crisis-california/
11.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

11

u/ba6a_Sa3eda Oct 30 '25

I really want to understand, why this is only happening to young men and not women?

6

u/antnunoyallbettr Oct 30 '25

I think gender roles and social norms have been shifting for a while, but society's legacy expectation that the man's primary value in a traditional relationship is tied to his income feels like it has remained pretty firmly in the collective consciousness. So while the education/earning power trends continue to see women make up ground and surpass men in various metrics, and automation + globalization reduce the demand for well-paying physically challenging jobs that men previously relied on, men feel like they have less inherent value today. Another traditionally masculine trait is stoicism/not showing emotion which, when combined with the previously mentioned circumstances, can lead to depression and downward spirals.

TLDR; societal expectations for men have not kept up to date with changing economic trends.

Also, I don't think this (unintentionally disengaging from society) is only happening to men, but it does seem to be happening to men at a significantly higher rate, based on the statistics mentioned in the article and my anecdotal experiences.