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Are young men and women giving up on each other? | The Gray Area

Vox | October 12, 2026



What happens to a society when its members become increasingly wary of one another, and relationships break down based on gender lines?

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In today’s episode, guest host Christine Emba speaks with pollster and writer Dan Cox about his new book Generation Uncoupled: America’s New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection. They consider how and why men and women in America are growing apart, rising safety concerns among young women, and the widening political divide on gender lines.

Host: Christine Emba, columnist and author
Guest: Dan Cox, Director of the Survey Center on American Life at the American Enterprise Institute and author of Generation Uncoupled.

00:00 Intro
04:34 Smartphones and the crisis of connection
09:38 When the gap between men and women opened
26:25 The erosion of our social connections
35:52 Our changing social awareness
40:21 How to make a change

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Written by Vox

Comments

This post currently has 25 comments.

  1. @Lindsayyyay

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    Shared religion does not always mean shared values. I believe that modern parents can share values of compassion, kindness, generosity without religion. Just because parents are open to their kids having a different religion, doesn't mean their kids are adrift without guidance. I suspect the author is a religious man. Most agnostics and atheists know that losing the belief in God does not take with it your moral compass. And one does not need to look far to find a religious person not holding up to the virtues they espouse.

  2. @michaellamas4515

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    I would say it’s also an environmental issue… not to place blame, but if we focused on actual human development rather than tracking each and every person via governmental contracts, we’d see a natural drive towards dating.

    For example, the government owns roughly 25-30% of land area in the United States… I believe we should be utilizing this land for better development. I’ve noticed that children tend to get cuteness aggression much more severely than adults, which leads to them actually harming animals. This is obviously micro-data, but I think it’s still valid to bring up because if the child actually had an environment of cultivating the responsibilities of a real growing adult, then they wouldn’t be doing that.

    This only brings me back to rage rooms… which I believe i’ve talked about before on this channel.

    EDIT: I brought up children because the environment affects them more than it does Gen Z dating… though, I do believe the environment plays a huge role in both.

  3. @Chocobear

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    Millenials raise their kids differently than their Boomer parents raised them, for a good reason. All these things this man thinks we should instill in our kids was what was instilled by our parents by force and many of us rebelled against them. We learned from that and didn't want to repeat what our parents did to us, so we're raising Gen Alpha differently. Gen Z, well, you can look at Gen Xers for that, lol.

  4. @silver_desperado

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    I’m single. My friends and family tell me why I don’t date. I tell them the same thing: I can’t afford to. Between rent, bills, and student loans, I can barely afford to take care of myself, let alone take someone out on regular basis. My grandparents had 10 kids and owned 2 houses on a day laborers’ salary. Rent was no where near as expensive as now. Lower the cost of living and people will breed like rabbits again.

  5. @PeterParker-yg6fc

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    I met a foreign woman at speed dating and she’s so much better than any woman I’ve ever dated along the lines of what they discuss in this video.

    She’s also only been w only one other man despite being almost 30. It’s so nice not having to compete w a Frankenstein in their mind of prior partners. I feel SO manly.

    We’re getting married soon. It’s so nice to feel supported and loved without being a cartoonish caricature of masculinity.

  6. @KingArthur101

    October 12, 2026 at 11:28 pm

    We didnt give up they just kept moving the goalpost people these days have absurdly high standards you need to be 6 foot tall 6 houses 6 cars 6 figure salary like BonJovi said "we got each other and thats a lot for love!" but somewhere along the line we forgot about love

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