Men's mental health week: Inside the crisis of online masculinity
Social media is shaping modern masculinity, often with damaging effects. As stigma persists, experts call for reimagined support systems to meet men’s mental health needs.
“The constant comparison between myself and what the world says I should be, can be crippling and sometimes led me to make decisions that didn’t align with my beliefs.” Ayo Ogungbe.
Credit: Ayo Ogungbe
The concept of masculinity, a set of behaviours or roles we typically attribute to men, has long been ingrained in society. Though we may have preconceived notions of what a man should be, our ideas often neglect men’s mental health. This is why Men’s Mental Health Week became a national event in the UK in 2002. The week addresses the unique challenges men face in recognising and seeking help for their mental health issues.
This year, Men’s Mental Health Week fell on the 9th of June, and in the lead up, a meeting was held at the London Assembly addressing masculinity, stigma and suicide. One recurring topic in the meeting was the role of social media in influencing men’s mental health.
A study by Movember revealed that nearly two-thirds of young men regularly engage with men and masculinity influencers. From topics ranging from how to be rich to how to date, the rise of masculinity influencers marks a surge in men using social media for guidance in navigating an ever-demanding world. However, do their searches suggest that current health services aren’t meeting their needs, and what would improving these services entail?
The pressure of masculinity
Alex Holmes is a mental health coach, writer, and podcast host, creating spaces for young men to express their emotions. Social media negatively impacted his sense of self: “Social media is a warped mirror. I’d scroll and find myself feeling small, either for not being ‘hard’ enough, rich enough, or loud enough.” Holmes believes that algorithms reward “dominance, detachment, and performative confidence”.
The Future Men survey, conducted by Working With Men in 2018, found that 67% of young British men felt pressure to display hyper-masculine behaviours, and 55% believed that crying in public would make them less masculine. Holmes witnesses this in the young men who attend his sessions: “I hear men talk about father wounds, relationship breakdowns, and feeling like imposters in their own lives. They want connection, but they’re terrified of looking weak. What surprises me most is how hungry they are for permission to feel.”
For Ogungbe, a senior project manager, social media exacerbates pressures to perform masculinity: “Young men aren’t comfortable with being themselves because they do not fit the mould of what a man should be, which is being projected online. Whether it’s having washboard abs, a 6-figure income, ‘rizz’ or ‘aura’.” These concepts of masculinity also existed in his family upbringing: “The term ‘man up’ was thrown around like hot potato whenever something became overwhelming, which as you can imagine further emboldened that mentality of not showing your loved ones how you’re feeling when times are tough.”
Although social media propagates negative ideas of masculinity, these ideas are perpetuated in other areas of life, causing some young men to deny themselves the opportunity to seek support.
Holmes, a former journalist, experienced a nervous breakdown in the newsroom, which made his mental well-being impossible to ignore. “I began noticing how often I wore masks: the strong one, the funny one, the emotionally unavailable one.” It was in therapy that he addressed this: “Masculinity was a weight I was carrying without consent.”
Ogungbe still experiences an ongoing battle between what he learnt as a teenager versus what he has learnt as a young adult about being a man. Through a slow process of vulnerability, he is relinquishing negative ideas. “I really believe the notion that people that know you best, can support you the best.”
“Men find support more appealing if it empowers them to have the tools to take action themselves.”
- Professor Paul Galdas
Credit: Unsplash
Designing health care services that serve men’s needs
Professor Paul Galdas, a specialist in men’s health, believes current health services are often not designed with men in mind: “They don't often appeal to men's needs and preferences, or speak to their lived experiences. Research shows that they can often be perceived by men as feminised or stigmatising.”
Galdas has been researching the design of early mental health intervention in partnership with men working in frontline NHS roles. He has found that services that are practical, use plain language, are solution-focused, and confidential appeal to men. “Men find support more appealing if it empowers them to have the tools to take action themselves.”
For Galdas, it is essential to recognise that systemic issues influence men’s behaviour and that blaming men does not resolve the issue - this includes understanding why men engage with masculinity influencers and offering positive alternatives. “The solution is not to blame and alienate people, it’s to listen to them and work with them in terms of positive solutions.”
"No one organisation is going to be able to provide all the support that young men need when they're seeking that guidance, but we can all work together to paint a more helpful and positive view of masculinity based on the strengths of men.”
- Amy O' Connor, Global lead in policy and advocacy, Movember
Credit: Unsplash
Amy O’Connor, the global lead for policy and advocacy at Movember, highlighted the positive role social media can also have on young men, “Men are looking for guidance, but they're also looking to be entertained. They want to have a laugh, and the research showed just that, they want the thought-provoking content as well.”
Though there is no simple solution to creating safe spaces online and offline for young men, O’Connor said the solution must be a collective one. “We need to be working together on a culture shift and going to where men are as a collective. No one organisation is going to be able to provide all the support that young men need when they're seeking that guidance, but we can all work together to paint a more helpful and positive view of masculinity based on the strengths of men.”
Ultimately, online content about masculinity reflects systemic ideas of what it means to be a man. As Galdas pointed out, health services can be improved to better address men's emotional needs, providing an alternative space for support that could be more beneficial than what is available online. To make progress, these services must focus on men's lived experiences and actively work to dismantle the rigid norms that shape them. Men’s Mental Health Week serves as a reminder of this important issue.
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