NYU professor Scott Galloway just declared that an entire generation of young men is becoming a “new species” of asocial, asexual humans—and the solution has nothing to do with blaming women or society.
Story Snapshot
- One in seven young men are NEETs (not in education, employment, or training), while only one in three men under 30 are in relationships compared to two in three women.
- Galloway attributes the dating crisis to online dating apps, AI-driven synthetic relationships, economic anxiety, and technology that enables male withdrawal from real-world courtship.
- Rather than endorsing victimhood narratives, Galloway urges men to “level up” through fitness, grooming, career focus, and kindness as their competitive advantage.
- The professor rejects “blackpill” ideologies that blame women or immigrants, positioning personal responsibility as the antidote to isolation and resentment.
The Brutal Mathematics of Modern Romance
The numbers tell a story most young men already feel in their bones. Only one in three men under thirty finds himself in a relationship, while two in three women the same age are partnered. This isn’t a conspiracy against men—it’s simple demographics. Women date older, expanding their pool to include viable men in their thirties and forties. Meanwhile, dating apps have turned romance into a ruthless marketplace where average men get eliminated before they even send a message. Economic pressures post-2008 and the rise of AI-generated intimacy alternatives have created what Galloway calls a perfect storm pushing young men toward complete withdrawal from courtship.
Galloway’s December 2025 podcast appearance crystallized years of research into masculine decline. He’s tracked collapsing male college enrollment, skyrocketing homelessness and addiction rates among men, and the proliferation of young males choosing screens over human connection. The professor doesn’t sugarcoat the implications: society is witnessing the emergence of men who never learn to navigate rejection, build resilience through romantic pursuit, or channel sexual energy into productive ambition. These aren’t temporary setbacks—they’re fundamental shifts in how an entire gender engages with the world, and the long-term consequences include societal instability, workforce disengagement, and families that never form.
The Technology Trap Nobody Talks About
Dating apps promised efficiency but delivered devastation for most male users. The platforms concentrate attention on the top tier of men, leaving everyone else invisible. When rejection becomes automated and constant, young men retreat to alternatives that require no risk: AI companions, pornography, video games. Galloway identifies this withdrawal as rational behavior in a rigged system, but rationality doesn’t make it healthy. The sexual drive that historically motivated men to improve themselves, take risks, and build careers now gets redirected into synthetic experiences that demand nothing and deliver emptiness.
Economic anxiety compounds the problem. Divorce rates spike not from infidelity but from financial stress. Young men see older generations hoarding wealth while they face diminished prospects, student debt, and housing markets that mock their earnings. When achieving traditional markers of masculine success—stable income, homeownership, provider status—feels impossible, why engage? Galloway argues society owes young people better economic conditions, yet he refuses to let men off the hook. External conditions explain the crisis, but personal action remains the only controllable variable for individual men stuck in it.
The Uncomfortable Case for Male Responsibility
Galloway’s message stings precisely because it demands accountability when grievance feels justified. He acknowledges the legitimate struggles—biased systems, economic unfairness, technological disruption—then pivots hard to self-improvement. Get off the phone. Hit the gym. Dress better. Build a career plan. Practice kindness, which Galloway calls men’s “secret weapon” because genuine decency stands out in a landscape of resentful competitors. This isn’t bootstrap mythology; it’s tactical advice for navigating a hostile environment. Women aren’t the enemy, immigrants aren’t stealing opportunities, and rage won’t build the life young men claim to want.
The professor’s rejection of “blackpill” ideologies—fatalistic worldviews blaming external forces for male failure—puts him at odds with corners of the manosphere that traffic in victimhood. Galloway sees these narratives as poison that paralyzes men into inaction. His alternative embraces traditional masculine virtues without apology: strength, competence, protection, fatherhood. He argues society has pathologized normal male desire and ambition, creating confusion about what healthy masculinity looks like. The answer isn’t retreating into digital caves or lashing out at women who’ve simply adapted to changed conditions. The answer is becoming the kind of man worth choosing, regardless of how stacked the deck feels.
What Happens When Men Check Out Completely
The implications extend far beyond lonely individuals. Societies need functional men contributing economically, forming families, and maintaining social cohesion. When significant percentages withdraw, the consequences cascade: labor shortages in essential industries, increased social welfare burdens, rising mental health crises, and political instability as resentful populations seek scapegoats. Galloway’s warnings about a “new species” of asocial men aren’t hyperbole—they’re extrapolations from current trends showing younger cohorts less sexually active, less employed, and less connected than any previous generation.
Women face their own crisis in this equation: fewer viable partners as men drop out, pressure to date older or settle, and the challenge of building families in conditions hostile to child-rearing. Galloway emphasizes this isn’t a zero-sum gender war. Both sexes lose when technology and economics conspire against pair bonding. His message to men carries urgency because men control their response even when they can’t control circumstances. Fitness, career competence, emotional stability, and genuine kindness aren’t guarantees, but they’re the best odds available. Waiting for society to fix itself means forfeiting the only years that matter for building romantic capital.
Sources:
A Few(er) Good Men – Prof Galloway
