CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A 20-something middle class white man has today been saved from spiralling further into the toxic manosphere of podcasts and online courses.
Betoota Heights resident, Mikey Meek (25) is part of the older cohort of Gen-Z men who have been captured by algorithm.
He was too young to remember a mainstream culture before social media, and is too old to have been protected from it.
Because of this, Miikey has become a case study into what happens when human beings spend their most formative years mainlining completely uncensored online content, with his parents non the wiser to the fact that they probably needed to supervise his 6 hours of daily screen time.
Without the ubiquity of traditional TV and radio broadcasting, he’s never really been on the same wavelength as his peers. Instead he’s spent his life lost in a sea of algorithmic endorphin hits – with no consistent discourse to share with his wider community.
He has grown up on the frontline of a digital experiment. He’s never watched The Castle. He has no idea who Cold Chisel are. He’s never once listened to an album start-to-finish. He’s never played team sport.
His most exciting years of young adulthood were taken from him by the pandemic. He studied finance online. His boss lets him work from home most days.
He now struggles with his own masculinity, due to the sheer amount of conflicting information and disinformation that has gone into his head. What is it to be a man? How should a man act? He’s been told to cry more, but also not cry, to speak up, but to complain less, to be confident with girls, but also be mysterious around girls, to stand up for himself, but to avoid conflict. He’s been told to stop being so toxic, while also being told to stop being a little bitch.
By age 25, he’s basically found himself following the advice of the most brash male commentators on the internet, and this has lead him to a strict wellness routine that is bordering on self-flagellation.
Ice baths, saunas, running without music, competitive celibacy. This is how you find peace! This is what it is to be a man.
Or so he thought. After deciding to step outside of his comfort zone this afternoon, Mikey decided to visit a ‘pub’ to see what the big fuss is about.
He then ordered a ‘beer’.
While loitering around the front bar, Mikey caught the eye of a table of senior women who’d had a few sherbets.
“Now that’s a tall glass of water!” said one of the old flirts.
“If I was forty years younger you’d be in a lot of trouble boy!”
Instantly, Mikey’s constant desire to plunge his body into a sub-zero tub full of ice and water has evaporated.
He smiles at the old ladies and nods. That’s really put a spring in his step.
