New York University marketing professor and bestselling author Scott Galloway sat down with popular comedian and YouTuber Theo Von to talk about masculinity in America, the data on relationships and marriage, and the problems with living life predominantly on screens.

The conversation revolved around one big question: What happened to men?

Galloway is outspoken about the often obscured reality about the difficulties of young men in Western countries, noting how young men are falling behind educationally and are more likely to die by suicide. In short, young men are struggling. Despite what Galloway calls the “2,000-year head start” men had over women, that doesn’t mean the 19-year-old man in Appalachia is somehow advantaged in 21st-century America.

Toward the end of the conversation, Galloway declares that ultimately nothing good comes from living on one’s phone. Quoting his colleague Jonathan Haidt, Galloway notes how social media has been terrible for young people, including men. Romantic connections are often made online now, but statistically, men will mostly get rejected on dating apps, and many have simply given up on the prospect altogether. Because women have such specific criteria for what they’re looking for on the apps, dozens of guys will be competing for just a couple of women, while the most popular men will often take advantage of multiple partners. This isn’t a formula for long-lasting relationships and family formation.

They also spoke to the importance of fathers and role models for young men, and how society in no way benefits from the decline of men. It’s the opposite; healthy and whole men will make life better for everyone around them.

Galloway also resists the notion that one needs to “find their passion” to lead a fulfilling life, claiming that the people who tell that to young people are “already rich.”

“Go find something you’re good at,” said Galloway, “that has a 90-plus percent employment rate.”

Later in life, the things many people are the most passionate about are their spouses and kids. For Galloway, finding a life partner and having children trumps all the individualistic careerism afloat in modern American culture. Finding good and purposeful work is important, but so is having a life that you can share deeply with another person.

The online version of life, as well as the focus on passion and monetary success, doesn’t lead to meaning or virtue. Anthony Bradley writes in his latest Substack post,

In 2024, this pursuit of personal peace manifests in an obsessive focus on individual comfort, disengagement, and self-expression. Whether through endless streams of entertainment, the curation of digital identities, or the insulation of life within echo chambers, many have withdrawn from meaningful engagement with the world’s struggles. Affluence, meanwhile, feeds an insatiable consumer culture, where even relationships and communities are commodified. These idols have not only eroded our societies — they have failed us utterly.

The emphasis on individual career and fulfillment is leaving so many frustrated and empty. What’s more, this narrow view of the world isn’t enough to get men off the couches. What we need now is something beyond the self to live and sacrifice for. If men don’t have anything to protect and provide for, it’s no wonder they will lapse back into the virtual world and “give up.”

Finding a life of self-sacrifice, connection, and the formation of virtue is what we need now more than ever.