It's Time To Raise Better Men: What Can Parents Do in the Age of Violent Porn, AI Girlfriends, and the Manosphere
Screen Less Play MoreShow Notes
I'm mad at men right now. Really mad. And I'm guessing you might be too. The allegations against the Cornell 7 exploded just a couple days after I recorded this interview with Dr. Leonard Sax about his book "Boys Adrift." And reading about that attack unearthed some rage about the incidious harrassment that I, and most women, have been tolerating for decades. Then I suddenly thought, "wait a minute, a podcast episode about the plight of boys and young men is going to seem completely tone deaf and insensitive right now." But when I went back to listen to my conversation with Dr. Sax, I realized that this is, in fact, the perfect time to talk about boys. Because the men that harassed me for decades, the men that hurt many of you out there, and the men that terrorized Jane Doe, were once young boys. I don't know exactly how those boys became who they became.... But the boys of TODAY, the ones in your house right now who are playing with Legos and talking about Minecraft... those are the ones who will potentially be radicalized even faster, younger, and more intensely by the toxic temptations of modern technology – specificallly violent pornography, AI girlfriends, and the Manosphere.
This stuff is dangerous, and it's at the fingertips of every child with a computer, a tablet, or a cell phone.
Dr. Sax has some general things to say about the growing epidemic of unmotivated young men, but most importantly, he has some eye-opening information about these new technologies that are targeting and wreaking havoc on a generation of boys.
So here is my conversation with the author of "Boys Adrift," Dr. Leonard Sax. - who I would like to thank for being so patient through some major technical difficulties as we were recording – and I also want to thank you listeners for being patient if the sound quality is a little more uneven than usual. In this episode, we explore: Pornography, AI girlfriends, and the manosphere: Three emerging influences Dr. Sax identifies as important factors in understanding boys' struggles today.
Boys and school motivation: Why some boys seem disengaged from academics while their parents struggle to understand what went wrong.
Is school working for boys? How early academic expectations, discipline, and limited room for developmentally appropriate behavior can affect a boy's relationship with learning.
The consequences of school suspension: Dr. Sax discusses research linking suspension with a significantly increased risk of later incarceration.
How to evaluate your son's school: Practical questions parents can ask to better understand whether boys are being encouraged to succeed.
Why this matters to all of us: How the experiences and influences shaping boys today may affect the adults—and relationships—they build tomorrow.
If you're raising a boy, worried about his screen time, concerned about online misogyny, or wondering why he seems less motivated than you expected, this conversation will give you important questions to consider. Is it failure to launch, or something more? Because raising boys in the digital age means more than managing screen time. It means understanding what they're watching, and who they're turning to for connection. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Sax, author of Boys Adrift: The Six Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men Read more at Screenlessplaymore.com Screen Less Play More Podcast is the best parenting podcast about screen time, phone readiness, screen limits, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and parenting in the digital age!
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