The old manosphere was great for comparing notes on what was going on. But the old red pill sites are mostly gone and have been replaced by a great deal of astro turf. Lately, I have noticed people aren't very friendly in public anymore. Asked around to some of the locals and they have told me no one goes out. Have to search to find people.
Also, I was talking with a younger dude who spends his summers going up to Alaska to work. I have known guys who have done that but didn't realize there was an extensive network of guys who do it. From what I gather a good chunk of these guys don't have wives or girlfriends, most are in their twenties but not all. The guy in question is tall, good looking, a very hard worker and a very nice guy. He made it sound like he didn't expect to get a girlfriend anytime soon, and didn't really expect to meet one. I have also known military guys who basically just dropped out of society and traveled. Also nice dudes. And then there was all the gym bros who dropped out after the Tiktok gals started harassing people at the local gyms.
How many young guys have just dropped out of society? I mean, all the dudes I cited are fit, good looking dudes. Just gone. It's hard to tell with the red pill videos as a good chunk of those guys are salesman selling their product, but how bad is it really now? Especially post covid. How many men just dropped out altogether? I'm getting the impression from this anecdotal evidence that it's getting worse, as there is always guys who drop out... But the majority didn't used to be dudes in their prime who were fit and good looking.
TDS has basically ruined any ability to be friendly anymore. You can have small talk chats, but nobody wants to risk going too far on the offchance someone is on the wrong side.
Which means you end up having to build social circles around politics, which is never a healthy foundation nor conductive to lasting. You either stress each other out talking about how bad everything is or become increasingly insular by echo chambering yourself to purity test anyone else who dares.
That's an extreme example, but you know what I mean.
This is actually a pretty old thing. There are a lot of industries that pay a lot of money for obscene work schedules. Alaska is full of them, but the oil field is the one everyone knows. Heck even localized ones like trawling are out there.
Its the kind of job that only a young guy can do, because only they have the physical body that can work 20+ days in a row for 12 hours a day. The idea being that you do it for a few years while you are young and unattached, and then you have a massive leg up on everyone else monetarily once you go out. The only problem is the type of guys in those fields rarely have the long term planning skills to not blow it on alcohol, hookers/gold diggers, and bad investments. And because you are gone way too long for any girl to remain loyal (just like a military guy), its basically not even worth trying to get one.
Also, this is the post-social media age. Being "good looking" is like "has a high school degree" in terms of women's expectations. If you aren't top 10% then its not pulling a lot of weight for you. It can multiply other factors to pull them, but its not gonna be the main number.
You gotta have excitement factors, the kind of retarded stuff only women can appreciate. Selling drugs, wasting shit tons of money on travelling, wasting time on a band no one cares about, getting a dozen shitty tattoos. And every day Tiktok is creating another arbitrary standard that women will now care about that few guys can keep up with.
These guys fail the 80/20 principle by being average to only above average, and its how they've had this kind of massive industry for decades that you didn't even know about. Because they aren't just forgotten by women, but society as a whole. They work the jobs that keeps that society working, and then once their bodies/minds finally break they go home to drink in obscurity until they die.
I think you're correct about political stuff limiting people's social circles. The purity testing and antagonistic nature of social media culture also drives people apart.
Being good looking is important for sure. Status is important too. But I think mostly men are afraid of even trying anymore. They are afraid of being rejected and so they hide away and defer to women for guidance and judgement. Also porn really undercuts the male drive to find a sexual partner.
The fear is a least a little justified because thanks to feminism women seem to be ruder in general when they reject, or you run the risk of being accused of sexual harassment. If you are in college or the workplace, this is pretty much a death sentence for a man.
There's also that if you are an average or ugly guy and get rejected over and over again with no real success beyond one date for a girl, eventually that guy will say, "Why bother?" and could be working on personal improvement... or playing video games.