“I Spent Two Years Inside The Manosphere. Here’s What Most People Still Get Wrong.”
A look at what boys are really seeing online. PLUS: The big increase in teen inhalant use, Britain's attempt at banning cigarettes, and what it's like inside a phone-free party.
Hi Readers!
I’m Christopher Pepper, an award-winning health educator and the co-author of the bestselling book Talk To Your Boys.
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In this edition:
More Than Half A Million American Teens Are Using Inhalants. A Doctor Explains The Dangers
“I Spent Two Years Inside The Manosphere. Here’s What Most People Still Get Wrong.”
Young People Are Crowding Underground Phone-free Parties. I Went To One.
Britain Just Issued A Cigarette Ban That Would Shock Americans. The Reaction Here Has Been Something Else.
A Promising New Depression Therapy Focuses On Finding Paths To Joy
Gen Z Pout, ‘Influencer Voice’ And The Horror Of ‘Looking Cringe’
Opinion: There Is a Better Way to Get Kids Off Screens
More Than Half A Million American Teens Are Using Inhalants. A Doctor Explains The Dangers (CNN)
By Katia Hetter: Social media trends are fueling a dangerous form of substance use among teenagers in the United States involving common household and commercial products, including inhaling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.
More than 500,000 American adolescents reported inhalant use in the past year, according to an estimate based on findings in a new study published in the journal Preventive Medicine.
I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen to learn more about inhalants and why they appeal to so many teens. Wen is an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at George Washington University. READ MORE
From Christopher - WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? As a health educator and a parent, I have to keep up with trends around substance use and be able to explain the risks to teens. This article pulls that information together well.
“I Spent Two Years Inside The Manosphere. Here’s What Most People Still Get Wrong.” (Women’s Agenda)
By Dr. Krista Fisher: I’ve spent time in corners of the internet most women have never heard of: 4chan, Discord, Odyssey, Rumble. Not as a regulator or a judge, but as a researcher at the Movember Institute, trying to answer one of the most important questions of our time: What do young men’s digital worlds actually look like, what are they doing to the boys and men who inhabit them, and what spills out to the world around them?
To answer those I walked in the shoes of a young man online – to see what he sees, scroll what he scrolls: So for the last two years I’ve had two TikTok accounts.
Mine: Krista, early thirties, Australian, female.
And “Liam”: seventeen, American, male. Built for my research.
The contrast between these feeds was disorienting. READ MORE
WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS STORY? I appreciate the depth of perspective that Fisher provides here, especially her views on what young men need and what effective Manosphere alternatives might look like.
