Gen Z’s retreat from dating and sex | The Gray Area

Sean talks with writer Christine Emba about the strange and increasingly anti-social world young people are inheriting online. They discuss the rise of “looksmaxxing,” the manosphere, Gen Z’s retreat from dating and sex, and how the internet has transformed what might have been normal insecurities into a permanent state of anxiety and self-optimization. Along the way, they explore loneliness, intimacy, masculinity, social media, and what happens to a society when human connection starts to feel unbearable.

Subscribe to our channel! http://goo.gl/0bsAjO

Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling)
Guest: Christine Emba (@ChristineEmba)

00:00 Intro
01:47 The world of looksmaxxing: incels, bone smashing, and drugs
12:18 The digital doom loop: anxiety, optimization, and the death of dating
21:20 The growing gender divide of Gen Z
28:25 When digital substitutes replace real connections
38:27 Is the internet designed to destroy human connection?

We would love to hear from you. To tell us what you thought of this episode, email us at thegrayarea@vox.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-800-214-5749. Your comments and questions help us make a better show.

And you can watch new episodes of The Gray Area on YouTube. New episodes drop every Monday and Friday.

Listen to The Gray Area ad-free by becoming a Vox Member: vox.com/members.

Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com.

Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: http://goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: http://goo.gl/XFrZ5H

Written by Vox