The Reason Gen Z Isn't Dating

[Coventina]

At least incels cared about getting with the opposite sex.

The mostly male, mostly heterosexual looksmaxxers — those who have come to dominate social media with their brainrotted vernacular and impenetrably captioned video clips — seem to have dispensed with relationships entirely.

In the late 1990s, self-defined involuntary celibates cared enough about love to define themselves by their lack thereof. They bemoaned the fact that their looks, they felt, prevented them from entering into romantic and sexual relationships.

Earnestness doesn’t last long on the internet.

Today’s looksmaxxers — next-gen incels schooled in Trump-era nihilism, undersocialized because of Covid-19 lockdowns and radicalized by the manosphere — are obsessed with improving their physical appearance through any means necessary. They speak of aesthetics as destiny and attractiveness (ranked, codified and debated in extreme specificity) as the measure of human worth.

Braden Peters, the 20-year-old streamer known as Clavicular, has become the movement’s breakout star. He claims to have started injecting steroids at age 14 to improve his physique, has dabbled in crystal meth to suppress his appetite and promotes the technique of hitting oneself in the face with a hammer (it’s called bonesmashing in the looksmaxxer lexicon, and there’s video of him engaging in it) to heighten cheekbones and create a sharper jawline.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/opinion/gen-z-dating-clavicular.html?

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I...I....I'm at a loss for words....

[Ilsa]

1. Hammer to the face? Stupid is as stupid does. nt

[ColoringFool]

2. I'd Cheer Him On! 🤪🔨🤪🔨🤪🔨🤪🔨🤪🔨

[hatrack]

13. Can we crowdfund a bigger hammer? Maybe a metal press?

Just asking . . .

[mercuryblues]

14. And yet, they wonder why woman avoid them.

[EdmondDantes_]

3. Not that physical attractiveness isn't a benefit,

But these guys are just so strange with their obsessions and lack of any self-esteem.

[chia]

4. Maximum self-absorption won't end well.

[PatSeg]

5. Very, very strange

It seems that being raised with daily social media has stunted a lot of young people's growth, both mentally and emotionally.

Previous generations relied more on TV, movies, books, and real life to observe people in relationships. A nonstop diet of social media is not likely to produce normal, healthy people.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

6. Hammer time

[EdmondDantes_]

12. And women are telling them "can't touch this"

[leftstreet]

7. These guys are so full of it

Walk through any grocery store, Walmart, airport, park...

Thousands and thousands of ordinary looking men, clearly coupled up with women, often kids in tow. All races, all ages. They don't have to shoot steroids and hit themselves in the head with hammers to attract female companions.

The trick seems to be not being an asshole

[Intractable]

9. You missed something -- something so weird, it went right by you ...

... they are not interested in relationships.

This looksmaxxing thing seems not to be about attracting partners. Rather, it's about attracting followers.

And the trick seems to be, being an asshole.

It's pure narcissm; loving yourself and not caring about others.

[leftstreet]

10. Ah, good point

I guess I was thinking of the First Wave of Idiotcels

Apparently these newbies just want to make themselves look good for....for, uh....other males to follow them on socials? No shame in their getting right to the homoerotic/homophobic aspect of it all

[synni]

8. You forgot the part about them not washing their butts

I'm serious! These guys think it's "gay" to touch your own backside, so they refuse to wash their cracks.

[PeaceWave]

11. I never bought this story. If anything, any plumber will tell you just the opposite...

Toilets, drains and sewer systems are increasingly being overwhelmed by people flushing supposedly flushable wet wipes, the most notorious of which is branded as...wait for it...Dude Wipes.

https://www.classaction.org/flushable-wipes-lawsuit

[OC375]

15. Pathology

Not a lot of what's described is rational behavior on any level. Beyond just this, I think there are a lot of weird, often self destructive behavior going on with people in real and virtual pockets in this country. People seem to be seeking out ever more extreme ways to escape reality. It can't be good for them or society to be that far off target in life. I'm all for doing what moves you, but a mind needs to be worked on a bit before some of these trends would seem appealing alternatives. A lot of people seem to be adrift.

[Bettie]

16. I doubt this is the reason for all of them

I have a 25 year old son. He is traveling for work Monday through Friday and relaxes on the weekends. He has no time to meet anyone with the intention of dating, so he's just doing his thing. If he meets someone, that's great, but if not, he's just fine.

We've talked about this and he's okay on his own. Would he like a relationship? Maybe at some point, but it isn't a priority right now.

[JustKay]

17. But, admittedly, who would want to date that?

[JustKay]

18. An incel by any other name is still....

[OldBaldy1701E]

19. It wasn't COVID that 'undersocialized' them.

It was the internet. Yes, COVID does play some part more recently, but this was an issue before COVID ever came around.

Specifically the fact that they discovered that they much preferred living in the virtual world rather than the real one. The concept of the 'echo chamber' is well known, so I will not go into a description of it. The concept of how appealing that can be is also well known.

And, since there was (and still is) nothing serious going on as far as trying to combat this massive addiction (because that is what it is)... well...

Just like caffeine... it is one of the most dangerous things in our lives, but we not only ignore that, we market it as if it is some kind of cure-all or something.

One has to wonder how many people are clinically mental now thanks to years of sitting in a blob, suffering from social anxiety and other things that might not be so bad if one would just get outside once in a while, and drinking hundreds of energy drinks that drive one's body into extreme mode and yet they have no way to release that (and all the while being in that echo chamber and that rage being fed back on itself over and over)... other than to take it all out on anyone they can find in the world they live in that they decide isn't 'like them'. And, since there are far more 'followers' than 'leaders' in this world (and that one)... sycophancy is almost a given.

Sad, but true.

(On a somewhat similar note, if anyone is interested, I strongly recommend watching the Marvel movie 'Thunderbolts'. It is a really good film that addresses mental health in a very relevant way.)

[Talitha]

20. Darwin is smiling....

[eShirl]

21. "stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself"

sorry but