For generations, boys learned what it meant to be a man from the fathers, coaches and mentors in their lives. Today, that process looks very different. Increasingly, the lessons are arriving through TikTok creators, YouTube influencers, podcasters and the content that recommendation algorithms quietly serve up during some of the most impressionable years of a young person’s life.
A new study published in the American Journal of Public Health is taking a close look at exactly what that shift means for boys and young men and the findings point in two very different directions at once.
Rather than conducting a single survey or experiment, the team reviewed a wide range of existing studies on how boys and young men engage with masculine themed content online, mapping out the spectrum of what they are actually consuming and how it affects their mental health, relationships and sense of self.
The wide spectrum of masculine content online
The team found that the online spaces boys inhabit are far from uniform. At one end of the spectrum are communities that actively encourage connection, emotional openness, caregiving and help seeking spaces where boys discuss grief, loneliness and mental health in ways they might never feel comfortable doing face to face. Those kinds of interactions can meaningfully reduce isolation and normalize vulnerability among a demographic that is often socialized to suppress emotion.
At the other end, however, the same platforms host content that reinforces rigid gender hierarchies, promotes resentment toward women and ties male worth directly to dominance, status or physical appearance. The problem, the researchers note, is that social media algorithms tend to amplify precisely this kind of material, because provocative and emotionally charged content consistently generates more engagement.
The concerning rise of looksmaxxing and the manosphere
Two trends in particular stand out from the research as causes for concern.
The first is looksmaxxing the practice of obsessively optimizing one’s physical appearance, with a particular focus on features like jawline shape, eye symmetry, muscularity and height. While some of this content resembles routine fitness or grooming advice, the more extreme corners of these communities encourage unhealthy comparison behaviors and normalize genuinely risky interventions. These include the use of anabolic steroids such as testosterone or Anavar, which carry documented risks of heart attack, stroke and liver and kidney damage, as well as invasive cosmetic procedures including jaw surgery and limb lengthening operations.
The second is the broader manosphere a loose network of online communities that promote rigid ideas about masculinity, male dominance and social hierarchy. In many cases, this content intersects directly with looksmaxxing, framing an idealized male appearance as the key to social success and relationship power. Researchers warn that sustained exposure to this kind of messaging can distort how boys understand not just their bodies, but relationships and emotional wellbeing as well.
Why parents should stay engaged, not just alarmed
Despite the documented risks, social media is not an inherently negative force in the lives of young men. For boys who lack consistent male role models at home or in their communities, online spaces can function as genuine sources of connection, identity exploration and even peer support. When athletes or public figures speak openly about mental health struggles, that visibility can encourage boys to seek help themselves something that remains difficult for many young men to do.
The more useful response for parents, then, is not a blanket ban on social media, but a more intentional and ongoing engagement with the content their sons are absorbing. The importance of building digital literacy helping young people learn to distinguish credible information from misinformation in environments where popularity is routinely mistaken for expertise.
That means encouraging boys to ask basic but critical questions about the content they see, who created it, what they are trying to sell, and whether there is any real evidence behind the claims being made.
It also means parents staying genuinely curious about which influencers and podcasters their sons are following and what those figures are actually promoting. That kind of ongoing conversation, is what gives families the best chance of helping boys benefit from what social media does well, while protecting them from the content that can quietly cause real harm.
