A New Map: Young Men's Digital Worlds in 2025

A new report from Young Men Research Initiative and the Movember Institute of Men's Health offers timely and actionable insights into the digital worlds of 12-17-year-old boys

Boys and young men 12 to 17 years spend more than six hours a day online. In that time, they’re inhabiting digital spaces that are increasingly gendered and highly personalized. Meanwhile, offline, many young men are also facing growing health challenges rising rates of loneliness, health disorders and suicide are being reported across the globe.

It’s no surprise then that increasing attention is turning to young men’s digital worlds. What young men see, share, and do online is shaping not only their health, but also their ideas about what it means to be a man and how to connect with other people.

Yet these digital worlds are far from static. New platforms rise and fall, algorithms reshape what content appears in young men’s feeds, and new technologies – like artificial intelligence (AI) - are being woven into the tapestry of their digital lives at lightning speed.

For researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and parents, keeping up with this rapid digital evolution and finding ways to support safe use can feel daunting. This is because fundamental questions remain unanswered: Where are young men actually spending their time online? What kinds of content capture their attention? And how are digital trends and technologies shaping their views of relationships, identity, and society?

The Young Men’s Media Landscaping Report – released by the Movember Institute of Men’s Health and Young Men Research Initiative – answers these questions.

Mapping a moving target

This research report is one of the first multi-country efforts to chart a rapidly changing digital terrain.

Based on new survey data from 3,705 young men aged 12 to 17 years across six countries (Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand), this report offers a comprehensive evidence-based snapshot of where young men spend their time online and forecasts trends that will dramatically shape their digital futures.

Gen-Z young men’s digital ecosystems are simultaneously entertaining, educational and constantly evolving. At the heart of these digital ecosystems is gaming. The vast majority of young men in this study (88%) played video games at least once a week. Short-form video platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat were also central in their daily media diets: 89% of young men consumed short-form video content at least weekly, and 59% daily.

Podcast listening and community engagement have surged, but it’s not just the conversations themselves that are shaping young men’s worlds. Podcasts at the top of global charts are often deeply tied to a hyper-masculine wellness industry, with ads for supplements, performance enhancers, wearable health devices, gambling, and alcohol woven throughout. Nearly half (49%) of respondents said they tuned into podcasts weekly, driven largely by a desire for both entertainment and education. The Joe Rogan Experience - averaging 11 million listeners every episode – tops the list as the most listened to podcast among young men – 6% of young men 12 to 14 years and 8% of young men 15 to 17 years said they listened to weekly episodes.

AI is fundamentally reshaping how young men search for and access information online. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of young men said they used AI platforms at least once a week. Tools like ChatGPT (57%) and Google Gemini (55%) are frequently adopted as go-to search engines – second only to Google itself (67%).

The uptake of AI-mediated companionship and intimacy is also on the rise among young men. Platforms such as candy.ai, pephop.ai, gptgirlfriend.online, and joyland.ai allow young men to role-play romantic and intimate scenarios. Almost half (49%) of all traffic to the top AI girlfriend sites comes from young men aged 18 to 24 years, making them the most frequent users of these services by far.

Young men’s ability to understand and navigate new digital technologies sits atop their online activities. Algorithmic literacy – an awareness of, and ability to critically interact with algorithms - is central to young people’s digital experiences. More than half of young men in this study (57%) admitted they do not understand how social media platforms decide what content to show them. A similar proportion (53%) also said they wanted more control over what appears on their feeds. While algorithmic technologies and recommender systems are notoriously opaque, young men experience unique vulnerabilities in the face of these algorithmic misconceptions, given how much time they spend online and the rise of masculinity related content on their feeds.

Parents play a central role in young men’s digital lives acting as both online activity regulators and trusted sources of information (misinformation fact-checkers) especially when it comes to dating and relationships. Forty percent of young men said their parents knew everything they did on social media. But parental involvement often stopped at the very platforms where young men spent most of their time online: Parents were more involved with son's online activity in traditional media consumption like TV and radio, but less involved with gaming and social media.

Insights into action

What does Movember’s latest research tell us?

Firstly, young men spend the majority of their time online in mainstream media ecosystems- not niche or marginal spaces. Gaming, podcasts, and AI tools are not ephemeral distractions on the periphery of young men’s lives, but core areas where they spend significant portions of their day seeking information, exploring relationships, and curating how they want to show up in the world.

Secondly, these findings reveal both vulnerabilities and opportunities for intervention. Emerging digital trends – from podcasting to AI companions – are becoming regular proponents of young men’s online lives. Yet regulatory frameworks as well as rigorous evidence uncovering the health impacts of these trends, are nascent. Compounding this, many young men lack the digital literacy skills to understand and therefore manage the profound effect of algorithms on their online experiences. While young men value lived-experience and relatable sharing of knowledge on sensitive topics like health, intimacy, and relationships, parents remain key sources of expertise and guidance – albeit their sphere of influence does not always extend to the platforms where young men spend most of their time.

The through line is clear: young men are eager for knowledge and open to guidance. But current support structures, policy, and research are not keeping pace with the fast-evolving digital environments they inhabit.

What we need to happen

For those committed to improving young men’s health, wellbeing, and relationships, our research highlights several priority areas for action:

• Meet young men where they are. Gaming is a central pillar for connection and engagement. Establishing a presence in these digital spaces opens up new opportunities for outreach and interaction with young men.

• Equip young men with digital literacy skills. Young men want more control over their digital worlds - particularly the content they see on social media. Teaching them how algorithms work, ways to critically evaluate online content, and strategies for greater control over social media platforms will empower young men to safeguard their own digital experiences.

• Engage, upskill, and support caregivers. Parents are trusted advisors, but a disconnect exists between their awareness (and personal online behaviors) and young men’s actual online activity. Providing parents and caregivers with tools and knowledge to support young men online can amplify their influence.

• Prioritize short-form video content. Short-form video dominates how young men consume media online. Health promotion strategies and campaigns that overlook these formats risk being invisible.

• Pay close attention to AI. From health advice to digital companionship, AI is reshaping young men’s online lives. Proactively uncovering it’s social and health impacts is critical to maximizing its effectiveness and minimizing risk of harms.

Looking ahead

Young men’s digital worlds have changed. Both the platforms young men inhabit and the ways they use them are evolving at pace. Rigorous mapping of these digital worlds is critical to ensure researchers, policymakers, and practitioners anticipate change and act, rather than merely playing catch up.

The Young Men’s Media Landscaping Report provides a timely snapshot of how young men live, learn, and connect online – but it’s only a starting point. Supporting young men to effectively navigate offline challenges (mental ill-health, relationship difficulties, precarious masculine identities) requires that we pay attention to, and show up in, the digital landscapes shaping their lives.

These aren’t just digital spaces; it’s a digital age, and the online technologies young men interact with shape their offline lives in increasingly profound ways.