Men: The threat of ‘technology enchantment’

The modern male is in trouble, said Philip Zimbardo and Nikita Duncan in CNN.com. Males now make up less than 45 percent of many college classes, and far fewer young men in their 20s than young women rate their careers as a major priority. A whole generation of male slackers are failing to find jobs, get out of their parents’ houses, and even land steady girlfriends. We think we know why: “technology enchantment.” All kinds of modern technology—especially online porn and video games—have trained young men to crave instant gratification. “Hooked on arousal,” they spend hours each day getting little bursts of pleasure every time they achieve some success in the stunningly realistic, 3-D world of video games, or click on an explicit new sex video on sites that cater to every fantasy. Their addicted brains are being rewired “in a totally new way that demands constant stimulation.” As a direct consequence, they find school, jobs, and long-term relationships to be painfully boring.

Ah, that explains everything, said Colin Campbell in IGN.com. Young dudes can’t find any real-world pursuits as interesting as “MILF Lesbo Honeys” or “Call of Duty,” so “the fate of humanity is at stake.” It’s only a matter of time before civilization collapses, with “vines slowly growing among billions of corpses slouched in front of computer screens, their skulls set forever in a strange grin.” People have been wringing their hands over the end of masculinity for generations, said Dave Thier in Forbes.com. They did it when men left the farms for factories, and probably when they “started using bows and arrows instead of throttling deer with their own two hands.” This is just the latest twist on an age-old lament: “Kids these days. When will they learn?”

There’s no doubt that addiction to video games and porn is real, said Brian Fung in TheAtlantic.com. But Zimbardo, a well-known social psychologist, presents zero scientific evidence that most video-gamers or porn-site visitors are addicts. His sweeping indictment of a generation of men relies on a few lurid anecdotes, like Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik’s obsession with “World of Warcraft.” Yes, many young men are struggling. But the global economic downturn, changing gender roles, and other social trends surely must play some role. Blaming all their problems on “technology enchantment” is a tad simplistic, don’t you think?

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