CTRL Panel
When does technology help young men flourish? And when does it become a distraction, or even a substitute?
Four new reports offer a more nuanced picture than the familiar story of young men withdrawing into their screens. Devices can facilitate learning and connection, and help stimulate interest in sports. They can also make that same sports participation feel risky, promote gambling, and offer the simulation of intimacy without the demands and growth of a human relationship.
Equimundo’s State of American Men
Equimundo’s new report, based on a December 2025 U.S. survey of 1,000 men and 500 women ages 18–29, shows that technology is deeply woven into the lives of young men:
75% report gaming at least an hour daily; roughly a quarter report four hours or more.
35% report having used prediction markets, including 16% in the week before the survey.
58% have formed a close friendship with someone they met online, and 59% have met an online acquaintance in person.
78% report using AI, and 60% say it makes learning easier. College graduates are more likely than nongraduates to report improved career prospects (51% versus 27%).
Cygnal’s Young American Men Survey
The Lafayette Company’s survey, fielded by Cygnal among 800 male registered voters ages 18–30, offers another view of support and belonging.
When something goes wrong, 7% name AI as the first place they’d turn.
YouTube was named as young men’s leading news source: 46.5% select it among their primary sources, followed by TikTok, X, and Facebook.
Some 38.5% say their closest male friendships developed through doing things together, compared with 18.8% through talking openly about personal matters; another 28.7% say both equally.
Aspen Project Play’s Boys in Sports Report
Aspen’s Boys in Sports report complicates the idea that gaming simply displaces sports.
Among boys who formerly played organized sports, 26.8% said video games reduced their interest. And yet, 55% of boys who had never participated in sports said gaming increased their interest.
In focus groups, boys described fears that poor performances would be recorded and circulated among peers.
The report recommends training coaches to help athletes navigate social media, establishing “No Recording Zones,” and seeking children’s consent before creating content featuring them.
Movember’s Real Face of Men’s Health: California Report
Movember shared a report on the state of men’s health in California, noting the opportunities and risks of using technology for mental health:
Telehealth and wearables can reduce practical barriers and make sensitive conversations easier to initiate.
AI coaching may appeal to men and serve as an entry point into human care.
Social media can intensify isolation, body-image concerns, and social comparison.
The Feed
Research
Gaming and brain structure: what the scans can—and can’t—tell us
A NeuroImage study analyzed gaming habits and MRI scans from 5,686 adolescents. More gaming was associated with slightly lower cortical thickness. Single-player and mature-rated gaming showed significant associations; multiplayer gaming did not after correction for multiple testing. Boys reported more gaming than girls—4.2 versus 1.8 hours daily—but the brain associations did not significantly differ by sex. This cross-sectional study cannot establish that gaming changed or damaged brains, as cortical thinning is also part of normal development. The authors caution against interpreting these differences as harm.1
Emergency visits after Ontario’s gambling expansion
A study of 17.35 million Ontario residents eligible for public health coverage identified 952 gambling-related emergency visits by 757 people during January 2012–June 2025. By April–June 2025, visits among males ages 10–29 were estimated at 154% above the modeled counterfactual, with no corresponding increase among females.
Gambling marketing embedded in World Cup coverage
AI-based analysis of all 104 World Cup matches identified 9,360 prediction-market and 6,429 gambling-brand appearances in match footage. Even with greater calls for advertising restrictions (see below), young sports fans are still routinely exposed to gambling marketing throughout match coverage.
Federal and state policy
Utah’s VPN-related pornography provision is preliminarily blocked
The court blocked enforcement of the provision's age-verification requirement based on users’ actual location, even when VPNs disguise it. It found likely constitutional problems associated with reliably identifying physical location.
For related evidence, see our summary of new research by Matthew Brown, Emily Davis, and Devin Pope about how age verification laws have affected pornography consumption and VPN usage.
Iowa proposes pornography age-verification implementation rules
Proposed rules would implement Iowa’s age-verification law through methods including digital identification, transactional data, and approved facial age estimation. A public hearing is scheduled for October 20.
New York sues Polymarket over sports wagering
New York alleges that Polymarket US operates unlicensed sports gambling, including access for 18–20-year-olds despite the state’s 21-year mobile sports-betting threshold. New York seeks an injunction and financial remedies.
Sixth Circuit rejects Kalshi’s bid to shield sports contracts from state gambling laws
In consolidated Ohio and Tennessee cases, the court held that the sports-event contracts were not swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and rejected federal preemption of state gambling laws.
What else we’re reading (and listening to)
I Deliberately Bet Like a Problem Gambler. DraftKings Made Me a VIP. | ProPublica (They are looking for bettors to donate their data.)
Research papers presented at The Gam(bl)ing Conference 2026 at the City University of Hong Kong.
Are Prediction Markets the Best Forecasting Tool Ever — or Just Another Casino? | Freakonomics
Are Prediction Markets Gambling? A Lot Rides on the Answer | New York Times
Quick dopamine, mental health, and why the impact looks very different in boys than it does in girls | Mel Robbins podcast with Jon Haidt
Events & Funding Opportunities
New: Groundwork / Unwritten Challenge | A $15 million, three-year US/UK initiative includes a first challenge for U.S. nonprofits offering $50,000–$100,000 grants. Inquiries open September 23 and close October 16.
Who is the “Real Me”? How Online Life Influences Youth Identity Development | Online | October 8
Family Online Safety Institute Conference | Washington, D.C. | November 19
What did we miss this week? Do you have an upcoming conference or study we could feature in the next edition? Do you have an intuition about how pathways into problematic gambling may have changed over the past decade? Let us know at bmonline@substack.com, or shoot me a message here.
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Disclosure: Jason Nagata’s lab received funding from Rise Together, a donor-advised fund established by our colleague, Richard Reeves.