Do you think many young guys in our society lack a real purpose in life?

Yes, what do you think are the driving emotional factors of unemployment and depression?

I'm referring to guys in the age range of 18-28 or thereabouts. I feel like many guys in this age range lack a real purpose in life, just from my own experiences and observations. I think guys are much more competitive than girls and they have a much greater desire to achieve things, be successful and make something meaningful of their life (not saying some girls aren't like this too, but the vast majority are not). Many guys will try to compensate for this lack of purpose in different ways and I list a few of these below:

- Gyms are full of guys in the weights area trying to bulk up and put on large amounts of muscle. What for exactly? If you want to be healthy, just do a bit of cardio and light weight training. We don't need strength either - we don't live in caveman times anymore and most people do not do intense physical manual labour.
- The vast majority of crime is committed by males in our society. Why is this? Because they feel like they lack a purpose in life. They want to be recognised and noticed, and crime in this perverse way helps them to achieve this. Of course there are other reasons people commit crimes too, not denying that.

- Guys try to sleep with as many women as possible. Yes I'm sure they have high sex drives but why the need to sleep with so many random women? Because they want to achieve something and people often respect guys who can bed many women.


I think the lack of purpose in life is felt significantly more by males than females in our society. Women are generally content with a stable life, having an average job, marrying a nice man, having kids and not achieving anything particularly amazing or interesting in their lives (yes some women won't be content with this, but the majority will be). Males recognise once they reach the age of 18/19, many opportunities where they can achieve huge recognition (eg. sports, singing) are closed off to them and I think this is a depressing thought for them that the rest of their life is going to be spent in the 9-5 rat race like every other nobody.

What do you think?

Hi Riku!

Do you think the lack of purpose is felt much more in guys than girls? I feel like ignorance is a good thing to have in these times.

I'm referring to guys in the age range of 18-28 or thereabouts. I feel like many guys in this age range lack a real purpose in life, just from my own experiences and observations. I think guys are much more competitive than girls and they have a much greater desire to achieve things, be successful and make something meaningful of their life (not saying some girls aren't like this too, but the vast majority are not). Many guys will try to compensate for this lack of purpose in different ways and I list a few of these below:

- Gyms are full of guys in the weights area trying to bulk up and put on large amounts of muscle. What for exactly? If you want to be healthy, just do a bit of cardio and light weight training. We don't need strength either - we don't live in caveman times anymore and most people do not do intense physical manual labour.

- The vast majority of crime is committed by males in our society. Why is this? Because they feel like they lack a purpose in life. They want to be recognised and noticed, and crime in this perverse way helps them to achieve this. Of course there are other reasons people commit crimes too, not denying that.

- Guys try to sleep with as many women as possible. Yes I'm sure they have high sex drives but why the need to sleep with so many random women? Because they want to achieve something and people often respect guys who can bed many women.


I think the lack of purpose in life is felt significantly more by males than females in our society. Women are generally content with a stable life, having an average job, marrying a nice man, having kids and not achieving anything particularly amazing or interesting in their lives (yes some women won't be content with this, but the majority will be). Males recognise once they reach the age of 18/19, many opportunities where they can achieve huge recognition (eg. sports, singing) are closed off to them and I think this is a depressing thought for them that the rest of their life is going to be spent in the 9-5 rat race like every other nobody.

What do you think?

Gyms are full of guys in the weights area trying to bulk up and put on large amounts of muscle. What for exactly? If you want to be healthy, just do a bit of cardio and light weight training. We don't need strength either - we don't live in caveman times anymore and most people do not do intense physical manual labour.

What do you think?

Absolutely, yes. I feel the biggest factor in this is that our education system is failing boys.

There a quite a few studies I remember reading that show teacher bias (whether consciously or unconsciously) when treating boys and girls. Teachers are far more likely to label mischievous boys as "troublemakers" and treat them more harshly than mischievous girls, which obviously would plant a destructive mindset in boys.

There are also arguments that the feminisation of education has led to the destruction of the types of learning boys revel in, such as competition or aggressiveness. Education is a sterile place now and it's unsurprising boys feel suffocated in that environment, and are discouraged from expressing their natural instincts in productive ways (instincts that are on overdrive thanks to puberty). Everything that leads to competition is banned. Conkers, yo-yos, pogs, tag etc. It's taboo to have an environment where one person can revel in succeeding over another. No, everyone's a winner. In fact I think one of the only subjects boys still excel in over girls is sports.

So yeah, I'm not surprised girl outperform boys. Or that male university dropout rates are much higher than female dropout rates. Or that women consist of the majority of the university population.

True. The OP also mentioned men in gyms. As a "bodybuilder" myself (and I use the term loosely) I can completely understand why men do this. It's a great way to earn respect from both men and women without being a rich academic genius. In fact it might be one of the only ways for academically challenged men to earn respect. After putting on 2 1/2 stone of muscle it's quite astonishing how people treat you differently. Men and women constantly compliment you, women are more sexually attracted to you, men change how they talk to you as they're slightly weary, people move out of your way in the street etc. And for once in their lives it's something they can say they're an expert in and teach other people.You just become elevated in society.

Cool story, bro.

Sure is.

actually, most people laugh at you behind your back because they assume you must have a really small penis. true story.

The majority of the types of guys the OP mentions are essentially the "lads" at school who spent their time drinking Strongbow at the park on a Friday and dominated the fingering area at parties. They grow up to be adult versions of that - overwrought, pedestrian, meandering, unambitious. They'll probably get a wife who will end up hating them, they'll have a mistress who hates them, they'll have kids who hate them. It's a sad state of affairs.