One in Eight Young Men Watch Porn, Gamble and Play Video Games Daily
Around one in eight young men ages 18 to 29 watch pornography, gamble and play video games every single day, the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) reports.
Brad Wilcox, professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, a fellow at IFS and author of the book Get Married, recently highlighted this troubling trend on X.
“We have a generation of young men trapped in the ‘addiction economy’ – and the numbers are staggering,” he said. IFS reports,
- 11.9% of young men use porn, gamble and game daily.
- 23.3% gamble daily.
- Over 25% use porn daily.
Grant Bailey, a research fellow at IFS, pointed out only 2% of young men never watch pornography, gamble or play video games. Ninety-five percent of young men play video games, 70% watch pornography, and 57% gamble at least sometimes.
These statistics demonstrate a frightening reality. Many of our young men today are engaged in harmful and destructive behaviors when they should be becoming responsible adults, focused on their faith and starting a family.
The negative behaviors above are certainly part of the reason many young men are “unmarriageable” today.
In fact, the number of unmarried men between the ages of 20 and 39 is surging – growing from 20.7 million in 2000 to 30.4 million today.
It’s also not good that over 7 million men between ages 25 and 55, the traditional prime of working life, are unemployed and no longer even looking for work.
But it isn’t all bad news for young men. While some may look at the facts above and immediately conclude men are the primary source of society’s problems, there are heartening statics about young men returning to church and prioritizing family life.
Young men today are more likely to desire positive important life decisions – like going to church regularly, getting married and having children – than young women are.
According to Gallup, more young men today (42%) say religion is “very important” to their lives than at any point in the last 25 years. Young men are now more likely than young women (29%) to say religion is “very important” to them.
For the first time in American history, more men attend church than women – with the disparity especially pronounced among 20-somethings.
In terms of marriage, IFS reports that 68% of unmarried young men want to get married someday, and 62% of childless young men aspire to be fathers.
“What stood out was not indifference or a lack of worthy aspirations but the trying circumstances facing today’s young men,” said Joseph E. Davis, lead researcher at IFS. “They are not where they want to be, often feel trapped, and are unsure of what to do.”
Young men in 12th grade today are more likely than young women to say they want to marry and have children someday. While 74% of young men say they want to get married, just 61% of young women say the same.
More young men than young women identify as conservative (29% vs. 22%) while more young women than young men identify as liberal (37% vs. 28%).
Of young men who voted for Donald Trump in 2024, two of their top four life priorities (out of 13 options) included getting married and having children, NBC News reported. Of young women who voted for Trump, those priorities ranked numbers six and nine.
For young women who voted for Kamala Harris, being married and having children ranked in the bottom three (11 and 12, respectively) out of 13 options.
As NBC News summarized, “Gen Z men who voted for Trump rate having children as the most important thing in their personal definition of success. Gen Z women who voted for Harris ranked having children as the second-least important thing in their personal definition of success.”
In our day of declining marriage and fertility rates, both young men and young women face their share of challenges.
It could be said that while the problem with many young men is substantially behavioral; the problem with many young women is largely ideological.
At the same time, both sexes may share one source of the problem: social media.
As Maria Baer and Brad Wilcox write at IFS, “We live our lives online, and we decide how to live, in part, by watching what everyone else is doing (online). The result is pushing both men and women away from marriage, by making it harder for men to rise to the occasion of becoming marriageable and by making it harder for women, especially the liberal women who spend the most time online, to see the point of marriage in the first place.”
“Big Tech is degrading men’s marriageability even as it divides the sexes from one another ideologically.”
Young men must be willing to do the hard work of becoming men worthy of the marriage and family they desire. Young women must remember that marriage and parenthood are a source of some of life’s greatest blessings.
Rob Jackson, a counselor in Focus on the Family’s Counseling Services Department, told the Daily Citizen that young men engaged in negative behaviors must aim for worthier callings.
“Pornography, video games, and gambling waste time, energy, and money, and leave the young man with self-neglect and indifference to others,” Jackson shared. “Such things lead to a double life mixed with shame, regret, and addiction.”
“I encourage young men to realign their hearts, minds, bodies, and relationships with God and the greater purposes he has for them.”
Jackson also encouraged the parents of struggling young men to support them and pray for their children.
“Parents must face the reality of what they cannot change, take their grief to the Lord, and focus on loving their sons well without enabling them.”
To speak with a family help specialist or request resources, please call us at 1-800-A-FAMILY (232-6459).
Related articles and resources:
Counseling Consultation & Referrals
Raising Boys to be Godly Young Men
Training Sons to be Confident, Capable Men
Parenting Resources: How to Stop Failing Young Men
Brad Wilcox: The Correlation Between Marriage, Happiness, and Wealth
Religion Increasingly Important to Young Men, Gallup Finds
Research Shows Young Men Want Marriage Yet Lack Confidence in Dating
Young Women Take ‘Anti-Nuptial Turn,’ Interest in Marriage Drops Greatly
Young Men Are Returning to Church
Are Government Policy and Culture Making Men Weak?
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