Category: Basic Training

Since writing my last post, The Life-Stages of Friendships, I stumbled upon some interesting statistics about the amount of time people of all age groups spend with friends. This alarming data about our decline of time with friends and increased levels of anxiety today, is just another reason why I declared 2025 as The Year for Better Male Friendships. In this post, I’ll recap some of this data and why it has led to The Decline of Friendship. In the subsequent post, I’ll suggest the proper amount of time needed for friends as I continue to make my case for better male friendships.  Do Smartphones Cause Social Deprivation? I recently picked up a copy of the New York Times bestseller, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. It’s a must-read for all parents because it explains how we changed from “play-based childhood” to “phone-based childhood” which is causing an epidemic of

In my last post with Reflections on Year 6 of this blog, I stated that too many men still fail in school, at work, and in their families. The increase in loneliness and isolation has created a culture that enables guys to hide behind a mask, which keeps others from knowing them well enough to know when they struggle. So this year, I want to double down on my theory that men need deeper, authentic friendships. This post kicks off the new year with an interesting video about the decline of friendship in America. It also includes facts about loneliness and why we must help connect young males in relationships with more mature men. With a renewed focus on having better friendships, our boys and men, our girls and women, and our families, can all do better.   Men Struggle with Stress and Loneliness According to recent studies, around 57%