Boys Online: What the Latest Data Shows

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood | Parenting Tips From Funny Moms

What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood

Comedy, Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amy and Margaret discuss two new studies on boys and their lives online—in social media and gaming—and how today's digital culture shapes boys’ mental health, relationships, and ideas about their bodies and about masculinity. We discuss why gaming fills social and emotional needs for many boys, why the time spent may be of more concern than the content, and how parents can stay involved without over-policing. You’ll learn practical ways to become an “ask-able” parent, set boundaries, and how to know whether their time spent online is more harmful than helpful. Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode: Gottfried, Jeffrey & Sidoti, Olivia for Pew Research Center: ⁠⁠Teens and Video Games Today⁠⁠ Clair Cain Miller & Amy Fan for the NYT: ⁠⁠“How Video Games Are Shaping a Generation of Boys, for Better and Worse”⁠⁠ Oxford Internet Institute: ⁠⁠“Violent Video Games Found Not to Be Associated with Adolescent Aggression⁠⁠ Boston Children's Digital Wellness Lab: ⁠⁠Pulse Survey: Digital Gaming and Social Interaction⁠⁠ Claire Cain Miller for the NYT: ⁠⁠It’s Not Just a Feeling: Data Shows Boys and Young Men Are Falling Behind⁠⁠ Federica Pallavicini et. al for Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking: ⁠⁠The Effects of Playing Video Games on Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Loneliness, and Gaming Disorder During the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: PRISMA Systematic Review⁠⁠ Wenliang Su et. al for Computers in Human Behavior: ⁠⁠Do men become addicted to internet gaming and women to social media? A meta-analysis examining gender-related differences in specific internet addiction⁠⁠ Kirk M. Welker for JAMA: ⁠⁠Video Games—Cognitive Help or Hindrance?⁠⁠ Kara Alaimo for CNN Health: ⁠⁠What your teenage son is really seeing on social media, according to new survey⁠⁠ Common Sense Media: ⁠⁠⁠Boys & Gaming: What Parents Need to Know⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Fresh Take: Jean Twenge⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Why Kids Get Obsessed—And Why It's a Good Thing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Laura Vanderkam's time-tracking spreadsheet⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Sign up for our newsletter to get monthly recs/goodies from us! ⁠⁠ We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.whatfreshhellpodcast.com/p/promo-codes/ Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at ⁠www.monarchmoney.com/FRESH Ready to raise money-smart kids? Start now with your first month FREE at acornsearly.com/FRESH! Head to GigSalad.com and book some awesome talent for your next party, and let them know that What Fresh Hell sent you. boys and social media, boys and gaming, boys mental health, digital culture and masculinity, parenting boys online, raising boys in the digital age, video games and boys, healthy screen time for kids, social media effects on boys, parenting advice for tweens and teens, online friendships and gaming, emotional development in boys, helping boys navigate technology, positive masculinity, how to talk to kids about gaming, setting digital boundaries, boys body image online, supporting boys’ wellbeing, parenting in the digital world, tech and teen mental health, What Fresh Hell podcast, mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever wondered what a sandwich sounds like?
0:03.0	Not much to it is there?
0:06.0	Unless of course it's a Walker's sandwich.
0:10.0	Mmm, that is good.
0:13.0	Now that's what Asani should sound like.
0:15.0	Go all crisp in with walkers.
0:18.0	Delicious.
0:20.0	We did iters. Delicious.
0:23.2	We did it already.
0:24.5	We got to keep doing it.
0:26.0	What fresh hell.
0:28.2	Laughing in the face of motherhood.
0:31.3	You're not talking to big muscles, 321, whatever.
0:33.9	With Margaret Abels and Amy Wilson.
0:39.4	This is a multi-billion dollar industry pointing directly at my child. A podcast that solves today's parenting dilemmas. So you don't have to. Why do you think it is always one woman in a
0:44.9	bikini and 45 soldiers? Hello, everyone, and welcome to what Hell, laughing in the face of motherhood.
0:55.6	This is Margaret.
0:56.6	And this is Amy.
0:57.4	And today we're going to look at some new data about boys online and boys gaming and how it's all changing rapidly in the last couple of years.
1:08.2	And it's not all bad, but it's not great either.
1:10.2	So we're going to talk about it. But first, we're going to talk about what's in our mail couple of years. And it's not all bad, but it's not great either. So we're going to talk about it.
1:11.2	But first, we're going to talk about what's in our mailbag. Mailbag.
	...

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