this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2026
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Meh, honestly, while I agree there ought to be more offline options for guys, blaming the internet for isolation is a bit simplistic. It's not simply just "being online" that causes this sort of shit.
Earlier internet days, it was common for guys who were on the outskirts of social norms to find support and inclusivity in online activities. You'd pick a game, go online, and have the same general set of gamers you played with over a long period of time -- you'd get familiar, start guilds, have real-life meetups and so on. Even FPS games, it was super common that you'd hit up a specific designated server that was close to you for a lower ping, and the same people from the same general geographic region would meetup there regularly. You got to know one another, interact socially, and have that sort of ecosystem where you could voice ideas, even questionable ones, and you'd get checked by other sane/regular people. Incel type stuff was practically nowhere on the radar.
Social media is a different story though, and likewise how the internet in general has evolved since its early days. Social media basically turns people into faceless mobs -- some 'influencer' pushes out a racey photo and gets 1m followers thirsty, someone posts a lusty comment, and there's no checking, just piling on, because no one will remember each other later, no one will have to actually interact with one another. The influencers will even post more racey photos, because all that matters is engagement/clicks, not quality of discussion. You get games like WoW revamping their systems, with the aim to reduce wait times on group content, by making it so that you get randomly paired with a bunch of faceless people you'll likely never interact with again after that night - instead of a massively multiplayer online social experience, it's a game with a lot of faceless players you can treat like disposable NPCs. FPS games are similar, with little to no persistence amongst the actual player communities. Servers are often run by companies, that have rules/auto-censures that prohibit open conversation/dialogue -- say the wrong thing in a chat, and you're kicked.
Even more, we endorse/support communities that provide lgbtq+ safe spaces, or women's safe spaces, where people can generally be openly misandrist, without repercussions because it's a safe space, and the target of their vitriol are men -- but male safe spaces don't have the same protections, you still face banning if you question the broader progressive narratives.
Saying solutions are hard to find, is galling to me, when the system has been progressively designed to break apart the sorts of supports guys need. Third-spaces are needed, I agree -- physical ones are great, but virtual ones also previously helped, until we engineered them to push guys into isolation.