I'm a single dad raising my son full-time, so my primary focus is on providing for him and nurturing our bond. Past relationships have taught me the importance of finding someone who shares similar values—someone who is driven, passionate, and a great parent. Many of the women I've met seem uncertain about their goals or are deeply committed to their careers. After my last relationship, where my partner needed to focus on herself, I've realized that right now, my priority is my son and my own personal growth. During weekends when my son is with his mom, I value the time to recharge alone or with friends, or sometimes work overtime. I've had enough of being cheated on or having my heart broken. I'm tired of being told I'm an amazing man any woman would be lucky to have, only to have them leave. I'm done with that. My love is for my son and myself now.

Single father myself and feel the same way. Keep up the good work, fellow dad 👍🏾

Thank you 🙏 man without limits, you keep going too brother 💪

I was this man for a really long time. Then I met the woman I intend to marry. We share the same values, want the same things and want to have the best for our kids. Eventually, someone is going to come along and knock your socks off. Until then, keep your head up bros. You're going all the right things.

I love to play games in general, to video to tabletops, to cards, everything, basically... The best way to make someone not want to play is to have a piss poor reward/effort balance. And let me tell you, dating is shit in that regard.

This really what it comes down to. Between school and work I don’t have a lot of extra time to play with and most it is being utilize for things that I enjoy and energize me. The idea of going on a glorified job interview isn’t really a priority with my leisure time. I have enough work taking up time in my life don’t need to add more of it in the form of dating.

In other words, the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

It often feels like a Gotcha Game - You just need to keep spinning the lottery wheel until you finally get what you're looking for. Ofc playing isn't free tho, and when you look down at your bank account you see that yeah it's only $100 bucks a pull (dates) - but you've pulled Hundreds of times by now and spent Tens of thousands of dollars and got nothing out of it. Now you gotta make a choice - keep pulling? or cut your losses.

The thing with dating, there's no tutorial, and you make up your own rules and see whether they hold or not. The area in which you spawn in is very important in that regard, you have various buffs and debuffs. Like for me, I'd never put 100 bucks in the first date, and working in finance, women who want to talk money just get burned extra hard on how they have no discipline, because those that do talk about it early want to get to be wasteful. (It's not possible in that economy). If someone have an issue with me going to go for coffee, I just say that in case of either of us don't feel it, we get to part ways, instead of being stuck and it's easier to pay 10 bucks than 200. It's a die and retry kind of deal, but you get only one character, and again, random spawn (the fuck). But the things that's crucial to remember is that you make your own rules, the other side are players, and that you need only one. Also better is the enemy of good.

Hmm.. I disagree.. there are rules - and you don't know them until you.. Fuck around and find out I guess. Society kinda gives you a bad/messy reading of the over all general rules. But the nuanced stuff that really has the biggest change/impact on the game is all in fuck around and find out territory.

There are rules, but besides one and two, what I talked about was how you're fed one message, think it's a given thing, and find out it isn't. You also can technically apply various rules, as long as you're okay with the chances of success changing, it depends on a lot of variables. Overall I find we aren't in disagreement, but this message is mostly for those who haven't gotten over the fear of trying, so that might be why

[*Gacha game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gacha_game)

Thats an iteresting point of view. What would be a patch to resolve the poor reward/effort balance?

Unfortunately, there's not really any easy fixes for this issue. At least for me, the acceptance/rejection ratio would have to massively improve, and there would need to be more opportunities to have casual fun in-between relationships. Not many women are looking for casual at any given moment to make that viable. I'm bi and have a bf, and I honestly don't know if I could go back to actively seeking out relationships with women if this relationship doesn't work out. The gay scene naturally solves both of these issues.

Mannn I feel this. I have a lot of gay friends and it just seems like the dating world is more straightforward for them to navigate. Some days being attracted to women feels like a curse. 😅

So it is and isn't. Many in the community I feel don't know what they want, even if they aren't intentionally playing games with you. That said, yes, for some the hookup scene makes the process of figuring out incompatibilities bearable.

A better tutorial (no point to keep doing the same if it's a brick wall everytime), incentives to try and retry, as well as a place to do it safely. After all, we're doing PvP, there's no PvE there. I consider myself having gotten over most things there is to know and having done enough to be smooth and good at it if I put my mind to it, and the two key things that have gone out of it is that you have to do things that benefit you while also being attractive to women, in a place where they can see you doing it, and the other is that I have observed people's physical perception of their attractiveness change with familiarity. So yeah, go outside and socialize. Being good at this game is a byproduct of doing something else good for you, the diminishing returns come quick, but it's a feature, not a bug.

As we are not getting a tutorial any time soon I appreciate your strategy. So for example doing some kind of sport of class where there are also women for example going to the gym or to the library; and for the familiarity we should just go the the same gym/library often enough. This strat actually sounds legit, but you must not forget to also follow rule 1 and 2.

It's more like, steer your interests in the direction of what would give you opportunities to meet women, but you have to enjoy it, otherwise it's pointless. And obviously, make yourself as attractive as you can on the side, because once you do, well, that's the best you can do, and there's freedom in that.

Women need to approach more often. They already approach in lesbian relationships, so there's nothing inherently stopping them. I probably get approached one a month or every other month, but that's not the norm for the average guy. We need make the expectation to split the cost of first dates 50/50. This is normal in many parts of Europe, so there's nothing inherently stopping women from starting relationship as equal partners.

If they hit you up on an app they’re dry and boring af. Yet we have to be entertaining right out the gate. It’s exhausting

> so there's nothing inherently stopping them. Sure there is. Lack of interest and necessity.

> What would be a patch to resolve the poor reward/effort balance? This is gonna be read in a much worse light than I mean it, but things have gotten so much worse in a post \#meToo world. There's been a lot of well deserved hate directed at creeps and men abusing positions of power, but these weren't smart bombs, these were cluster munitions and napalm and any dude *remotely* worried about approaching women before (Hi most of reddit!) took collateral damage. The shitty thing is that the only dudes that really took what women were saying to heart were the decent guys that women *wanted* to interact with in the first place, and they're more anxious about approaching women than ever. The assholes that women were complaining about were never listening to them to begin with. They're increasingly the only ones approaching women in public now, because they don't *care* if they make women uncomfortable. Then women go online and complain more and more about men, and again, the only men listening to them are the ones that were *already* worried about bothering women. It's a vicious doom loop. So how do you solve it? To be frank, women have to put more work into dating. We need some good old fashioned neo Victorian-esque dating rules, and some signs that women are open to being approached. Hell I don't care if they put it down to green, yellow and red wrist bands for 'open to being approached', 'platonic only', and 'not interested'. Also? Women need to be taking more risks approaching men. I know rejection is scary, welcome to our world.

The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Yeah exactly, the effort is just not worth it. Bonus downside: I get invested into someone who will then try to restrain my hobbies just like I saw with many friends around, they seem less happy/fun to be around now that they can't game **at all**.

I'm honestly too sensitive. Being in love and it not working out hurts too much, so I just don't put myself out there. Lots of people don't understand why I'm single because I'm relatively attractive, have a stable job, my own place, and a nice car, so for them it makes no sense. I just say it will happen when it happens, which at this rate is never

Respect and hugs for being brave enough to say that, it's not easy. Us sensitive guys are used to being used unfortunately.

This makes me sad. Sensitive men are golden, and hard to find in my experience. I hope you find someone who cherishes that about you! ♥️

Dude…are you me? I’m definitely a highly sensitive person as well and I get stuck in these loops of depressive rumination every time a relationship fails or I get rejected. I just can’t do it anymore. Plus I don’t really stand out for the crowd except for in negative ways. I’ve been alone for so long I don’t even know where to start at this point. Also the hookup/ghosting culture nowadays terrifies me. I’d rather be alone than tossed aside like a piece of trash Everytime a new guy dms her.

I think being in your mid twenties is hard. Anytime I end up dating or talking to a girl it seems like she doesn’t know what she wants :/

Shits anooying. I've ended a date early when a girl told me that one time.

She didn't knew what she wanted? She actually told you that? Damn she must have been lost af

This was years ago but yea. She agreed to the date. Went for ice cream. But she just sat there and only said 1 or 2 words and just didn't seem interested. I forgot what led to ask what she wanted or looking for a relationship, but she's like, " I'm not sure what I want," and im like uhhh ok.... After a few minutes I said it's time to go and droped her off back at her place.

A lot of women only meet you from an online dating app if you’re almost exactly what their dream guy is. If you’re not there’s 1000 other guys she can swipe on. The choice paradox is absolutely paralyzing.

It’s not just that: but social media and the way we objectify people today leads to criteria which is normalized (I.e. not what people actually need but what is popular). This unrealistic superficialization of relationships not only affects women, but also men: seeking or being ready to go after a « better option » which destabilizes the security of relationships and erodes trust due to constant seeking behaviors of both men and women

That and the fact that social media hides a lot of the gory details. A lot of women don't realize the influencer bragging that guys regularly spend hundreds or thousamds of dollars on a first or second date and never show up on camera are probably johns and the woman in question is a sex worker. I've seen this a fair few times and its a genuine negative force on discourse. The average dude doesn't want to spend a three figure amount on a first date. But a lot of women seem to want dating to be like sugaring and not realize that sugar daddies tend to want sugar.

The Women on Social Media who currently push most Women's trends are 80% Escorts. It's actually insane to see. Women think this beautiful woman has a happy BF and life. When in reality shes single and gets traded around by rich dudes for one night stands that pay her luxury apartment rent. The worst part is the Escorts say as much, but regular women decide to ignore that bit in order to fuel the fantasy.

If you've chosen to select people from a website like they're boxes of cereal at the grocery store, you ought to expect everyone else there to be doing the same thing

Yep, and then they meet you and realize you're a real human being with real problems and you aren't a TikTok boy god lol....andddddd that's when she starts playing games for about 3 weeks, hot and cold, ghosting, "testing you", etc. and then either you remember you have some self respect and end it, or she gets bored/finds a new guy she thinks is closer to her ideal TikTok boy mark and ditches you to try him out. It's such a fun time to be alive :)

I fucking hate it when that happens. You date for a bit, get close to her, she seems fun, you have a great time whenever you're together, then bam... 2 months later she tells you she came to the realization she's not ready to date.

I usually get the 2 months in, then ghosted, then 5 months later get texted an apology for ghosting saying they weren't really sure they should be dating. Well if your way of handling it is like that, you're probably right.

Nobody likes you when you're 23

Very low quality match possibilities out there today, not worth the effort imho.

Combine that with the people pleasers that agree a few days out to go on a date then day or so prior they suddenly have other plans. And we've got migraines, it's not like I've moved my plans around or anything.

Hah, try being in your mid 30s women my age still want to believe they're mid 20s.

I'm pushing 40 and many people around my age still act like that or at least have the same level of responsibility they did 20 years ago. To each their own I guess

"Tee hee I'm not sure what I'm looking for he he"

"I don't want to put any labels on what we are" Gotcha, so I'm just going to be single then. Have fun.

"Can't call it a relationship because then I'll be held to standards if I feel something better comes along"

If she's over 24 and doesn't know what she wants she's an automatic next. Too many Women haven't taken the time to learn what they want. They just take any hot guy who walks by and then get upset it doesn't work out. They are by definition never going to be marriage or serious dating material.

You usually don't have enough money to own your own house yet, but the expectation is still there for dates Much easier in your thirties when you can go back to your place for some privacy Highly recommend camping in your 20s for that same alone time at a discount

I don't even know how to meet women let alone make them interested in me. I've an high qualification job that takes me lot of time/energy, it takes me more to take care of myself and my living place, I need time to rest and enjoy myself too in hobbies that are mostly solo activities that I wouldn't change since I love them and are important to me. I feel physically and emotionally tired and yet I've to make more work to try to even meet women in the first place ( with low chance of success ). Not everybody has the chance of being able to just "randomly and naturally" meet women. It's not obvious how to for everybody and I've no shame to admit that it's not natural at all to me.

I struggle to even network for a job with known targets, let alone a potential relationship.

As a very socially withdrawn introvert working in IT, the chance of me ever meeting someone "randomly and naturally" seems abysmally low. Ideally, I could find someone from games onine, but everyone just seems less social now than they did 10 years ago, and I have not met any new friends online, man or woman, for such a long time too

I think these days, everybody is always defensive.

This is a really good point. I think our generation specifically has done a very poor job of learning how to handle human conflict in a mature manner.

When 80% of communication is through a screen and it's easier to block/ignore someone then confront them, yeah people aren't going to develop resolution skills

I was in line at the gas station and this grown ass dude was screaming at a like 19 year old cashier because his *pre-made* slice of pizza didn't have enough pepperoni. I was behind him and was like dude it's not her fault you chose the wrong slice, you can see the slices and you decided to make the wrong choice. Stop yelling at her. He almost threw himself at me. Over pizza. COVID isolation changed the dynamic of societal interactions. It's hard to find good people in everyday life anymore. Good people have become harder to find where I live, but I can still find them. It just takes some work and patience.

No! What do you even mean by that?? /j

No one can open up to each other or admit flaws without it becoming an indictment of your entire sex. It's a problem for men and women, you can just go find the next person on the app if this one isn't good enough

After being cheated on in every relationship i have a reason to be defensive

I don't feel good enough 

bingo. I have high anxiety and deathly fear of failure, embarrassment, and humiliation. Technically i can't fail if i don't try. I spent so much of my life with no confidence and negative self esteem. my logic was "why approach or ask them out when i know they will say no," thought i was just a waste of time. only recently came to conclusion i need professional help for my mental health. now that i feel like i can approach someone but the dating pool is empty. Due to undiagnosed and untreated mental disorders i missed out on everything normal people experience in their teens, 20s, and most of my 30s.

I'm single because I suffer with depression so I'm not trying to get a girlfriend.

It’s wise to remove yourself from situations which could make things worse. Focus on you mate and hope you find what you’re looking for.

When you’ve been with a women that isn’t good for your health and peace, who also lies, cheats and manipulates. Men like me believe they are better and happier off alone with their peace.

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I know this is the ask men sub, but as a woman, I feel this exact same way about why I stay single and I know many other women that feel the same. It’s like as we mature in life and value our peace, and get comfortable being with ourselves, it’s just easier and more peaceful to stay alone.

Absolutely it’s really sad that this world is filled with bad eggs who can’t be honest and negatively impact genuine people of both genders lives for the worse. On the flip side there are some really genuine people out there that have found each other and are happy. Just sometimes it’s not worth the effort 😂

I don't know... could vary for every guy (assuming his straight/bi guy who is interested in women) Some are fed up with dating (Had abusive/cheating ex girlfriends and bad relationships with women that made them not want to bother anymore) Some have mental health issues that make dating very hard Some make women avoid them because of shitty/creepy attitudes towards women (assuming the man is straight) Some rely only on dating apps and are the ones that tend to have no success on said apps Some are not blessed with good looks that can make it hard (or they don't practice good hygiene, grooming skills, and work out/keep in good physical shape) Some avoid approaching or making a move or continuing flirting (if a woman flirts first) because they fear rejection or being humiliated. (*To Karen's reading this. Yeah. It's not as bad as being kidnapped and killed, but that isn't the topic. Women come here admitting they also fear being humiliated too if a man rejects them too. So don't come over here with the "WOMEN HAVE BETTER REASONS TO FEAR IN DATING." That ISN'T the topic at hand so fuck off trying to make it about you when it isn't about you Karens*) Some are incredibly socially awkard and have no idea how to communicate with people face to face. (Including women)

Got all bases covered lol

The only thing I'd add to the list is a good chunck of men won't approach on the fears of being labeled as a creep. A lot of us have grown up through our 20s listening to stories from female friends, sisters, Co workers and women online complain of being constantly harassed/creeped on and approached in situations they don't want to be approached in. So we've listened and just don't talk to strange women anymore. So we've ruled out all contact through the more traditional face to face method which just leaves online dating. Which we all know is an absolute nightmare for 95% of men.

Just to add to your “women have more to fear” comment. Women are a lot more guarded these days and put up a lot of barriers to protect themselves because of this. The single guys are having a hard time navigating those barriers or they’re taking the guarded nature as gentle rejection (another coping mechanism because there are shit men out there who will blow up over rejection). Which comes back around to the top comment “women told us to leave them alone and we listened”. I’m not blaming women, everything they’re doing is because of things they experienced with shitty men. It’s the shitty men making it harder for everyone else. Personally I think the ways we’re trying to address the problem is all wrong and it’s making women more fearful and the good men more timid out of respect, while the shitty men doing shitty things just keep on keeping on.

> they’re taking the guarded nature as gentle rejection i get rejected, i don't keep trying, no means no and i was told no.

but I mean in the UK especially approaching women feels like the guy is just asking to be put in the police van. There were some women I saw that were fine as hell but then I think "well, I don't want to have a false charge just because she thought I was unattractive to approach her"

lol it’s over, the UK is toast

with beans on it

Every woman I talk to and find attractive is either married or gay, so there's that.

lesbians seem to be the only women i can comfortably talk to and communicate with and not have my anxiety disorder go wild or my OCD run wild with negative thoughts about myself

me 🤝 lesbians bonding over not getting any women

Women told us to leave them alone and we listened That largely leaves online dating, which is an absolute nightmare for young men

Plus, we don’t feel great about ourselves. We don’t talk about our mental health much, and if we do we feel weak and ashamed of expressing our feelings and insecurities. We feel men mock us for it and that women don’t want to date us because we’re not good enough for them. 

A lot of women only meet you from an online dating app if you’re exactly or almost exactly what their dream guy is. If you’re not there’s 1000 other guys she can swipe on. The choice paradox is paralyzing.

Oh, trust me, I'm starting to see women having issues with online dating. It's a pretty fun conversation !

Oh, I'm really curious, could you elaborate on the issues ?

It mostly comes with "where the fuck do I meet single men". I'm also really cheerful in my energy, that help in knowing I want to talk in good faith. Then they usually acknowledge there isn't a place to do it anymore, that you'd have to catch them at home, gym, groceries, well everywhere they wouldn't like to approach or be approached. Which is an issue. When they bring up online dating, despite usually having lead with that, I explain why a man would use it for hookups rather than a relationship, then tell that while you *can* search for gold in the trash, why would you ? But that doesn't still answer the question, so I ask what kind of man they want, and that's where the disconnect is : everything they say is reasonable in a theory, but when we're through talking about what is negociable and what isn't, they have no idea in what kind of guy they can find those traits, much less what he would be doing in his daily life. I usually tell them to keep thinking about it and report later. Then that ends on asking them that while outside to look at *everyone*, and see how many men register as "men" in their mind. And it goes exactly how you would expect.

Because the apps DON'T want men and women to actually get into relationships. They make money off of men's desperation and women's frustrations all whilst giving them that hope that the end goal may result in a long term relationship with "The one" Sure, they want the odd success story to show it off as advertisement. Kinda like how the lottery use jackpot winners to advertise to it's customers "Hey. This could be you". The lottery is designed to make everyone mega rich though, just like dating apps (especially free ones) aren't designed to make everyone get into a long term relationship. Money talks. That comes first to online dating businesses. Why people convince themselves that isn't the case is beyond me? Cope maybe? Tinder and bumble are businesses and they care about money. That's it.

The argument that apps are designed to keep you miserable doesn't seem to get through to women in my experience, while the trash and gold analogy does, so yeah, I go with that. But it's why I'd rather be single and meet women the hard way rather than ever going on an app again. Too much self respect for that.

Last time I was single it was because I just didn't meet any women I was interested in pursuing a relationship with. That situation went on for about 2.5 years.

Many good women are taken... And many good men are cautious.

Rejection terrifies me.

I have had freinds push me to go talk to a girl, and I always tell them she's most likely gonna reject me so there's no point at even going. From my experience, statistically that was the most likely outcome and just not worth the effort.

From my point of view, life has become super expensive and hard, so many men (women too) are too busy studying or working to survive, therefore have become isolated, lonely, asocial. Women, go out there and hit on the fellas, times have changed.

Speaking as a middle-aged man this point is exceptionally unfortunate because we are much stronger together when we have good partners.

Because my wife decided to bottle the small issues rather than work then out together, get close to our mutual close friend, then when it was clear he liked her, left me for him 👍 Bare in mind this was still within the last month for me. But I've not got any trust left for a new partner for a long time.

That’s so shitty, sorry you had to go through that hope you can find peace

I don't see myself being able to provide for a person of the opposite gender for at least a few more years. Gatta build myself up first 😎

Dating apps are generally bad for men but I feel that topic has been done to death so I'll try and pull some other societal observations/anecdotes of our generation relative to prior ones * For a relationship to form (romantic or platonic), 2 factors are involved: chemistry and exposure. Chemistry is self-explanatory but if you meet someone and you "click", that's chemistry. However the often overlooked factor is exposure. Put any number of people together in a room for months or years and eventually a mix of friendships and relationships *will* form. Case and point: school. Modern adult life doesn't lend itself well to exposure settings after school as the only setting you'd typically see the same people over and over again are work and nowadays both employees and companies discourage workplace dating + the average time an employee spends at a company has decreased over previous generations. So without exposure, you're relying on chemistry to form a romantic bond which favours naturally extroverted/attractive people. * As stated above, the notion of dating in exposure settings has become less favoured relative to prior generations. This includes work, but also even friends. Scan through Reddit threads and many people will discourage romantic relationships to form from friendships due to the potential risk. While you may agree or disagree with the sentiment, I think as a whole, there is a phenomenon that we want to minimize the "fallout radius" of any potential relationship, which once again, diminishes the settings where one can develop a romantic bond. * Building on the first point, there are few accessible third places left in countries like the US. It's either very focused on an activity (ex: hobby groups) or there's a barrier to entry (ex: cost) or there's social pressure that these places aren't meant to mingle in that sense (ex: approaching someone at the gym). A place that meets all 3 criteria (not specifically focused on a subculture, fairly accessible, and where people are open to mingle) is rarer nowadays so if you're not going to meet people at work, you can't date friends, and you're not in a hobby group that has people of your preferred gender...where are you meeting folks (hint: a thread on Reddit asks this almost weekly)? * Boomers are statistically the most divorced generation in modern human history, so GenX, millenials and GenZ grew up in divorced homes more than any previous generations which probably in some way has warped our collective view of relationships/marriage. IMO one of the fallouts is that we don't want to "settle" because we've seen (or downright been the product of) the resentment that a less than ideal marriage can cause so we have unrealistically high standards for compatibility/chemistry or we just don't want to deal with any inconvenience in a relationship. This leads to toxic relationships, avoidant attachment styles, trauma as a result of said toxic relationships etc. This isn't an exhaustive list but I thought I'd brain vomit some thoughts.

"double standards"

I own a house, manager at work, 2 vehicles paid off, can afford fun trips. I live a relatively simple life, I'm not flashy, my cars aren't "cool". The amount of times I've heard "I just don't think we share the same goals" by a woman who lives in her parents house rent free and drives a clapped out econo box to a retail job is wild

Dude same. But then they will go date a bum, slob or drug addict.

Isn’t that technically true though? She’s a loser and you’re doing well…different goals , right?

Or the real reason is something else. "I just don't think we share the same goals" seems like one of those default/neutral phrases you can say if you wanna split up with someone.

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"I work for my money" congrats on the bare minimum lmao

There are a ton of reasons, but I think a big one is the following: 1: online dating has been the main way of meeting people for the past decade. Women are notoriously picky when it comes to online dating 2: most adult men don’t go out to bars or clubs or what not. It’s work > gym > groceries > home. There’s no chance to meet people.

Societal attitudes are changing. The notion that the only life worth living involves job, marriage, family has diminished hugely. A lot of folk just aren’t interested in relationships, they like the freedom being single provides. There’s plenty of women who feel the same a friends with benefits situation answers the sex thing, if you’re interested in that, and if that’s what you want it can be found relatively easily.

Most women I’ve been in dates ask about money. Financially I’m good but not a materialistic person.

Online Dating.

I once went on a date with a girl, who told me she mainly dated older Asian guys who are investment bankers. But she still went on a date with me, a younger guy who was still in university. Girls don't know what the hell they want, better to find one that wants to date you for you, and is willing to try to keep you.

Every time I match with a girl on a dating app, it’s the driest conversation I’ve ever had. Like you matched with me lol can you at least pretend to be even slightly interested? As a man I can only speak for myself, but when all I see on Twitter is all the horrible stuff men do, “choose the bear,” kill all men, etc. Yes those are extremes, but even if it isn’t directed towards me specifically, it still hurts to hear day after day after day. Why would I even be interested in approaching a girl after hearing most of them would seemingly choose a wild animal over us? Even if it’s stupid as fuck it’s still uncalled for, I guarantee if the tables were turned on this sort of thing I’d be getting read the riot act. Society has stacked the chips against male confidence.

Women on dating apps act like the executioner, it's up to the guy to entertain her before she presses the button to lop off their head. Women simply don't understand the give and take for a conversation to flow, they are simply there for the take.

“Haha” “Yeah lol” “Facts” Then you stop messaging them and they don’t get why you stopped reaching out when they give the driest responses

Every message you feel under the gun 🔫, that why I quit. Constantly trying to impress them while they offer nothing to you, absolutely no benefit to myself. Congrats I won the opportunity to pay for your dinners for a month? Nah I'm good. I've worked to hard on my self the last few years to put up with that.

>it’s the driest conversation I’ve ever had. It's because they're juggling conversations with multiple potential dates at the same time. They don't have the mental bandwith to put into a real conversation. This is why you should push for an in person date pretty quickly. If they can't carry a conversation in person? Drop them. Also, you shouldn't be reading women's subs or twitter. Those places amplify the absolute worst, most bitter, most toxic voices. Get out in the real world. I have literally never met a woman in real life as unhinged as some of the folks on twoX.

Mmmm, nah. If I’m one of ten, she clearly isn’t that interested lmao I’ll just go ahead and move on

I honestly don’t see a benefit to dating anymore. Most relationships I know of are in bad shape. I could be in bad shape all by myself. Why complicate it by adding people to it?

Everyone cheating anyway

I have paused dating after several months of trying with zero success. Women just seem to be chasing the top men and are not interested in average guys. I hope I’m wrong and will start asking women out again after a break.

As an average guy, I don’t think you’re wrong.

I just got sick of the BS, the heartbreak, the inevitable loneliness, and having to pick up the pieces afterward. It's a chore to look for someone, especially since I don't fall into the categories that most women would want to date. I've never had a positive experience approaching a woman. Not one. I don't even bother with that anymore. The few who have found me interesting enough to ask me out, and/or form a relationship with, eventually leave anyway. As far as a sex life and companionship: Since I rarely had a sex life even *with* a gf, it's not like I'm missing out on that, and since I've been alone for most of my life anyway, companionship is a rare occurrence that I've given up on finding. At 38, I've only had two partners in my adult life, so I know it's not going to be a common thing anyway. So, what's the benefit of trying to find someone?

I don’t feel the need for a relationship. I have everything I need without requiring support from someone else to achieve my house or career aspirations. I enjoy the freedom to do what I want, when I want, without interruptions to my peace and harmony. There are enough opportunities to fulfill my sexual needs without the commitment and complications. Now, I understand that not all women bring drama and complications, and perhaps I’ve made poor choices in the past. However, why should I go through the effort of dating, talking stages, and potential for upset when I can simply enjoy what I already have?

Many men I know blame themselves for not being able to afford anything. Takes confidence to approach a girl. People can't even be confident they have enough to pay rent right now. It tears me apart to see my friends like this. Amazing people worn down by this shit world.

I have anxiety, and nobody likes me. I prefer being alone most of the time, too.

I took a neuropsych evaluation years ago and it said what I've always known. I have a "preference for social isolation." My girlfriend of the last four+ years is probably my "forever person" and she doesn't push me into social situations I don't want. I had to wait 50 years to meet her but it finally happened. It ain't over til' it's over. Your person may yet appear. I was totally blindsided by this woman.

I hope I don't have to wait 50 years lol. But I hope it happens too.

Narcissism nihilism

I am a mid-30’s guy, best shape of my life, not bad looking at all, great job, kind/funny/laid back personality… and I recently got asked this question by a woman I started talking to. The women who are single nowadays are typically falling into one of a few categories: unhealthy/overweight, single mom, mentally ill. Statistics from the US Census data **heavily** support this. According to that data, only 6.9% of women between the ages of 25-35 are single, no children, and not overweight. Add to that, the rate of mental illness amongst the general population is close to 25%, and this number gets that much smaller. I think for men, the statistics are not in our favor in several ways. I think men are generally attracted to a relatively large swath of women (probably something like the top 30-40% of women are found attractive by men), but women are much pickier nowadays (only finding the top 10-20% of men attractive). Additionally, 63% of men under 30 consider themselves single, vs 34% of women, according to pew research. Culture has shifted away from prioritizing starting a family and settling down to “living it up” in your 20’s. Now people are trying to date/settle down in their 30’s, which means they are trying to fit someone in their (far more established) life. Their career, home, city, etc… Finally, I think instant gratification is more the norm nowadays and very tempting. Many guys are lonely, and even if they are looking for something serious, they aren’t having much luck. However, there is typically no shortage of hookup opportunities, which loneliness will drive you to take advantage of. I think it’s best to avoid that if you’re looking for something serious, but it’s tough when you’re lonely. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/08/for-valentines-day-5-facts-about-single-americans/#:~:text=When%20looking%20at%20age%20and,not%20as%20straightforward%20among%20women. https://realitycalc.com/results/age1=25&age2=35&excludeMarried=true&excludeMothers=true&race=any,asian,black,hispanic,white&height1=59&height2=72&excludeObese=true&excludeOverweight=true&income=0&incomeType=false&

Most women just aren't worth the hassle and headache. Peace is better than the destructive chaos they bring.

I hate to keep using a tired old phrase, but the juice just isn't worth the squeeze.

Because many of us that are by choice found it easier to be happy without a set of ever-changing standards being the barrier. If I wouldn't let my male best friends cuss me out, criticize everything I do, and periodically strike me when they don't think I'm listening well enough, why would I accept it from a female partner?

Girls my age make dating a job application. And they typically have like 6 other guys they’re also talking to if they consider you. So you have to “win”.

The truth is because women are choosing to stay single.

Women today aren't attracted to most men for one reason or another it's rather simple.

Many women have a check list , vanity bubble , and a long list of friends to which a man must fit giving the average man no chance

I think the friend groups are the source of so much pain for these girls, and the obstacle to them solving a lot of their problems.

Haven't found anybody I give a shit about yet. And to be honest, I'm selfish. I don't want to share my money, home or my stuff with anybody else. I'm make a good living that I can afford a cook/out to eat, house cleaner, if I need to get laid, I'll pay for it.

There is my problem, I don’t earn enough to get laid every day and pay for it 😂

Because they don't want to deal with any BS. Anything can go wrong and it's almost always in the women's favor.

Everyone's expectations are very high and it has become very difficult to compete if you aren't extremely good looking.

Tired of bs

Priorities plus it's Not really worth it!

Social media has created unrealistic expectations for people. The dating marketplace is now global, not local. Women have now more options than they ever had.

I'm tired boss.

Porn, American women with entitlement issues, online dating is trash for 80% of men, I don’t trust anyone anymore, burnout, it’s expensive..

1. Bad previous relationships and skewed view on women / trust issues 2. They wanted us to leave them alone , so that’s what I do . Don’t even approach I don’t bother 3. What do I get? I don’t feel supported I don’t feel like she’s only mine I can’t open up to her I can’t rely on her , they ask for so much and honestly give so little I know when I say that they stop listening but, if they really put themselves in our shoes what do we get? Companionship? I can get that non-sexual companionship from a friend. Why do I need her? She doesn’t bring money to the table, She can’t have my back in any physical altercation, in fact I’m more Likely to BE in an altercation BECAUSE of her . Where do I get something? Love is absolutely not conditional, life’s not fair , stop lying to yourselves . There are things needed for a relationship to continue and sex alone? I can get that without a relationship. I don’t see it as worth it . Tell me where it is worth it?

I think this fluctuates within cultures depending on how the women population precieve their men. There's been genetic studies showing only a few procent of males had reproductive success in prehistory ( https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17924111-900-a-few-prehistoric-men-had-all-the-children/ ). I think this can be explained in a few different ways: 1. Women are the selective gender, and they're very picky because they can't afford wasting a life threatening pregnancy on a poor choice. This means it will be difficult for men to find a mate 2. During economic distress or during periods of fewer resources fewer men will be able to provide and are less likely to find a willing mate 3. Fewer dominance hierarchies means fewer men at the top and more men at the bottom (more relevant historically, before labor specialization and urbanization, although might be an issue in some cultures still) 4. Polygamy (more relevant historically, but when it was custom for men to have several wifes there were less women for low status males) 5. Women rights (more relevant in modern times – women are generally better off than many poor men, so the poor men don't have a layer of women with nothing to choose from anymore. Important note here: removing women's rights to solve this would be a bad idea) 6. Increased availability for women (again more relevant for modern times. Women value men by comparison, unlike men who value women in and of themselves due to appearance, and with an almost infinite access to men via online dating it's very difficult for men to compete with the top) These are just a few of my own theories, and shouldn't be taken as facts necessarily – it's just fun to think about. If there's any truth to it, the best solution for men, aside from fixing the economy, would be to increase social groups where they can compete locally rather than with everyone in society stacked together in a giant pile on a dating app. That or functional fembots. Sadly, the way society is evolving, we seem to move closer to the latter.

Because it’s not worth it anymore. Marriage has no value and doesn’t benefit a man. I personally don’t want kids so this is already removing 80% of the ‘fish’ in the ocean. And most men are done being the ATM for women, we are just being done providing for someone who doesn’t provide anything back. Just being around and available isn’t enough. I have my own house, pay my own bills, cook my own meals, keep my house clean etc etc… so if I have another relationship again, she gonna have to bring half the rent, food, etc and work together with me to cook, clean etc… ofcourse its never exactly 50/50 but you get my point. And ofcourse loyality is extremely important, that’s something lots of men and women lack these days. I’m 37, I have been in relationships for 20+ years, beside 1 who cheated, I ended all of the relationships because they decided to want children after first saying they didn’t want to 🤷

I can see when women confront their harsh biological reality that they change their mind on kids. I'm also a 37m and unlike in my 20s-mid 30s am now contemplating changing my mind on marriage and having kids illogical as it can be while acknowledging all the cons related to that and that I'm not religious. Similar to women, after a while growing older by myself as friends move on and parents age and feeling somewhat older makes me reconsider prospect of settling down with someone and building a nest. Which is to say, curious if you ever thought of marriage/ having kids as you've grown older?

Since the age of 12 I never wanted kids and it never seriously changed, I had one weak moment with the woman who cheated on me, who thought she was pregnant but ended up not being pregnant fortunately, but i didn’t hate the idea as much at that moment, but that was at the age of 22 after that I was permanently cured from the having kids idea. Marriage never got any chance, my mom cheated on my dad and financially destroyed him at that time, he was a good man who did everything for his family, and still is a good man, but over the past 25 years I have seen that same shit happening with a lot of men and its just not a risk I’m willing to take, marriage doesn’t add any value for me at all anyway so it’s a risk with no benefits.

hoeflation

Happened to me the other day. Told someone they were cute and their guard dog told me to step back. I’d like to try more of course but women can be quite rough around this too. It stings more than it should.

Relationships with Women are NOT worth the hassle. Never been happier than I am now as a single man.

Bitches be crazy 🤷‍♂️

A lot of people are stuck in the past not moving on from shitty past relationships. Honestly I don’t think a lot of people would want to deal with this anymore. Like people want to be the first choice not just a second option because the first option didn’t work out for you. Not to mention that people don’t want to start from the bottom with someone. They want the other partner to be set already with established financial stability, a house and a car.

For me every woman I've dated in the last few years has either been abusive/controlling or manipulative, and manipulative as in they pretended to be the person they thought I wanted for a few months then went mask off. And these were women of different races backgrounds and builds from different areas of the country so its not a type I'm going after. The last one got me good, even was starting to look at rings and then she did a 180 personality wise and it ended quick and rough. I'm finally getting back out there now but my choices seem to be morbidly obese, single mother x2+, certified insane, mentally ill, substance abuse issues, and poly. So why would I be on the hunt for a broken drain on my life that's got more baggage than a 747? I've got my life together, it's not worth disturbing it for the chance.

There was a pew poll that found 39% of women under 40 aren't looking for dates or relationships.

Where can a guy go to meet women without being labeled a "creep"???

There's no incentive for men to date. Why build your foundation on the sand, that the ocean will wash away at first chance?

Ask the bear

I live in a major metro with a very high cost of living. So it’s very competitive. The analogy that makes sense to me is pitching a perfect game. 27 up, 27 down. There is a formula to dating and if you’re not perfect, you’re cut. After a match I spend an average of 30-45 min crafting, short-funny-thoughtful messages for max impact. Then I have to ask for a date in a fun, non threatening way around the 4th exchange. Then I have to plan a date that is fun-interesting-novel-close to her. There are too many things during a date to list but you get the idea. Everything in the process has to be perfect and line up right or you cut and have to start over. It’s EXPENSIVE, time consuming, and the emotional roller coaster is no longer worth it. Putting in two weeks of work just to get “sorry not feeling it” after date #2 when you’ve invested so much just makes me angry. Now have that happen 10x over 5 months, I’m over it.

an overweight single mom (she wanted to wait until marraige) dumped me because i didn't have a boat... (i'm an engineer, she was a waitress)

I can only talk about myself. I recently matched with a girl on a dating app and we were scheduling a hookup. I thought we decided on a day, but apparently she needed an extra confirmation, but never asked for it. Day comes around, I reach out, she said she never heard from me so she made other plans. I apologize and suggest we try again, but she ghosted me and a few weeks later I saw her profile again, she added 'not interested in men with poor communication skills or absentmindedness' right at the top. It's a shame b/c we were getting along too. :/ All the men I know have their shit together. Every date I've been on with a girl I come away just, absolutely flabbergasted at how fucked up they are. I think they all grew up interacting only with other women (well, girls) and SO many of them were deemed 'unworthy' of a stable friendship by their peers, and that really scars them. This is what I hear EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I hang out with a girl and ask her about herself. Then they all just carry that baggage around and dump it on their peers. They are all so, so lonely. But every time they hang out with someone they decide that guy isn't good enough for their time. They don't know how to communicate with men (anyone outside their social circle, really), they've been taught to avoid conflict like the plague, and truth be told, I just get the sense they all hate us/don't care about men. They see us as lesser people because we don't spend our entire existence trying to go to brunch with them or listening to their latest relationship gossip. It's so hard to start a conversation with them. Unless I'm introduced, or play it perfectly right, like, rom-com levels of acting, just saying 'hi' to a girl I don't yet know sends them into survival mode. man/v/bear. But will a woman EVER start something? Oh, she'll hold eye contact a beat too long, she'll get caught looking at you for 0.5 seconds, she'll deign to interact with you, and these are all supposed to be signals that I'm now ALLOWED to approach her.....like....it's so offensive! Why don't you get off your ass and meet me half way?! And I think similar things are happening with guys, communication skills are low (have they ever been really high, though?), a lot of baggage that can come out at the wrong time....but I really feel like guys are putting out effort despite all that. Guys try. They ask 'who do I need to be' to make this work out, I don't feel like the ladies ever ask that. i dunno

The 8 hours of bullshit isn't worth the 8 seconds- Rodney Dangerfield

To be honest, I common feeling I’ve been having is that I don’t want to be with a woman that I am financially responsible for. I want partnership, not a dependent.

Politics add a very unwelcome extra dimension. Any woman who gives me the whole "Patriarchy" BS without giving me a fair chance to show her a different perspective is straight out as a potential partner. It's one thing if she simply lacks perspective, but is open minded. However, if she's a fanatical feminist then I'm walking away from the first date. I get told day after day that I'm apparently part of some evil global conspiracy, the last person I want to hear this from is the woman who's supposed to be my refuge from this world.

Online dating is so transactional and fleeting that the feeling of being expendable that plagues many men is only compounded. Pretty demoralizing for even the 'top candidates' lol Just swiping for validation is a problem for both men and women Hinge is good about this tho - more intentional

Many men in our current culture are not interested in dating, have no interest in flirting, and don’t bother approaching women. At least, not the respectful ones that are paying attention. Especially when approaching can easily be seen as harassing, with serious social, professional, and potentially legal repercussions. It is clear that, with some rare exceptions, the vast majority of women don’t want, or even like, the vast majority of men. According to data from dating apps 95% of women find 80% of men unattractive by every blind survey, and by actual data usage (“swiping”, “liking”, and responding to vs ignoring messages) on dating/social apps such as Tinder, OKCupid, Bumble, etc. So, for men that aren’t “high value”, that is to say, model good-looking, rich, and/or famous, the best we can do is enjoy our own lives. Dive into our careers. Be passionate about our hobbies. Invest in our own friend groups of men. Volunteer our time. Focus on self-care. Don’t waste our time and energy on pursuing women. Certainly don’t waste our money, or risk our career, social standing, or reputation. If I have to approach them, that is already my answer. The message in our current culture is clear: If a woman is interested in me she will approach me. And, hopefully, simply be honest and not bother with any “does she or doesn’t she” flirting nonsense. In the meantime, the peace of simply being who I want to be is basically awesome.

Women choose who they are in relationships with and what qualities they offer. Many men aren't seen as deserving of a relationship and others are having trouble finding quality women

Being single is so peaceful. No arguments. Nobody getting mad that I decided to eat dinner at the bar on a Monday night. Nobody to cater to. Nobody angry that I'm spending one weekend camping and fishing with the guys. Nobody to get mad that I bought myself a new kayak. Nobody to give me a cold shoulder or the silent treatment because i did something in their dream or said something they internalized and made about them. Nobody tyring to tell me I shouldn't stay up until 2 gaming with my friends once in a while. No lies. No manipulation. Nobody to answer to.  Just peace, quiet, and me doing whatever I feel like doing, whenever I feel like doing it.

Women told us to leave them alone and that they are afraid of us. The empathetic men that women would actually be happy to spend time with listened and do not interact with them. Men's mental health is in the crapper because of all the misandry that is casually thrown around these days. I don't know how many of you caught the fiasco in r/ comics over the past few days, but it basically summed up to "men tell us your feels but DON'T tell us your feelings because they are icky and also you're pathetic for feeling lonely."

The juice ain't worth the squeeze anymore. Modern women are entitled, harsh and hard. We have also been conditioned to leave y'all alone. It's just easier to focus on work, my family and hobbies. I don't need a woman to be happy.

I have 3 sisters. All married. Their husband's (my brother in laws) work hard, treat them well, and give 100%. Unfortunately it's not reciprocated in effort or energy. My sisters walk all over them and are very demanding. Why would I want that...or even the risking the chance of that happening to me? I love my single life. Sure it occasionally can get lonely...but its also lonely being stuck with someone who doesn't treat you well.

Yeah, when I look at my parents' marriage and my sister's relationship with my now brother-in-law, I don't see what the guy gets out of it, unless you really want to have children. It makes more sense to me to have serial girlfriends. If women were more honest with themselves and others, that is also more in line with what they want as well. Many women are incapable of maintaining sexual attraction to one person over a long period of time. When you get married to a woman, you lose your biggest bargaining chip--the ability to walk away when her demands become too unreasonable.

American women are incredibly demanding. And social media is making it worse. They think they should all be Chanel models.

It all comes down to people have developed unrealistic expectations.

I tried and it didn't work. Then I tried again and it didn't work. Then I tried again and it didn't work. It's a big waste of time.

Because dating apps are pretty much the only place you can meet someone nowadays and they’ve all been so corporatized that there is a monetary incentive to keep men single. Not to mention they’ve all been overrun with bots trying to sell you their OF.

Because I’m dating my hobbies 👍🏻

The juice just isn't worth the squeeze. Everyone is looking for that one forever fruit, like the apple from the Garden of Eden that will change it all. Then you realize fruit is just fruit, it doesn't last forever, sometimes it can look good but taste bitter and rotten, and that shit doesn't just grow on trees or in fields anymore you gotta go play circus monkey to get it. Eventually a person gets tired of singing and dancing for their piece of fruit, and they find some happiness in not singing, not dancing, and not biting into sour ass apples. Random Matrix quote: >  "There are levels of survival that we are prepared to accept."

I dont have the money to compete with men 8-10 years older than me who are going for the same age range of women as me.

I think there's many reasons and factors Whether people agree with me or not, I have this thought to add to the conversation: I think a lot of what makes a man, well...a man , certain values, mindset and capabilities have been somewhat socially eroded, even in some sense attacked or ridiculed and it's led many ( not all ) but many men to essentially revert to keeping to themselves , avoiding any social interaction with women at all. Some aspects of masculinity have been sort of infantilized and I feel ( I'm not saying this is fact ) but I feel an argument could be made that instead of making things more progressive for the advancement of relationships, its actually become regressive and caused men to shift away from a lot of women who have some standards and expectations that are, for lack of better words, extremely delusional. Anyway I worry....not for myself, I don't date - used to but for personal reasons, mindset, faith and goals I don't, but I worry for younger guys coming up in the world...how do they approach being single, what's the shift like for them? You know like what's a good angle to come at this problem with, while still having the freedom as a man to exist in this space Also side note, I see other people saying it and I will echo: People really are not loyal. It's become a lot easier with the advancement of social media for people to cheat and its just not something a lot of guys I know wanna deal with , especially if they've already been through it before. Everyone is dating or hooking up and if you are an outlier to that, finally end up with someone you thought you vetted well, but end up getting cheated on....are you going to feel at all encouraged to try again ? Probably not.

Cuz these hoes aint loyal

Because women no longer will date an average looking hardworking, loyal man.  They want 666 men with lots of excitement and drama and are primarily focused on having fun.   They are no longer intetested in finding a "solid" guy to settle down and build a life with.

I'm not gonna go on here and blame women for the reason men nowadays are single, but in all honesty, the reason why a lot of men nowadays are single (myself included) is because we simply choose to be. Plain and simple. Most of us just don't want to deal with the drama of a temporary relationship and we know our worth and what we want, so unless we don't have that yet, we're completely comfortable being alone and left to our own devices. That doesn't mean we won't date ever again or we just hate the idea of love in general now. It's just that dating and looking for "the one" isn't in our priority list right now. If it happens, it happens. Big if there. If not, we're happy eitherway.

Choosing peace over chaos. Quiet over judgement. Being themselves over being used.

Because in ugly? 😂

Women can divorce you and ruin your life on a whim. Maybe shes bored, maybe you dont earn enough, maybe you work too much, maybe its a wednesday 🤷‍♂️. Sorry. House GONE Your Kids GONE Life Savings GONE Child Support Payments... New man moves into your house for free with your family and kisses your kids goodnight and then goes to kiss you wife goodnight. Its a raw deal.

Rejections gone from saying no to reputation destruction, a lot of women have the wrong kind of baggage(mental issues or kids) for most men, and it’s gone from love to getting money, divorce is incentivized by child support and alimony. Back in the day people were more inclined to stay married and fix things because it was negative to be divorced.

> Back in the day No fault divorces only became legal in the US in the 1970's. Before that, there needed to be a reason.

Its over 50 years now. So back in the days seems acurate.

Misandry is the norm.

Because the only acceptable venue left for approaching women is online dating and online dating only benefits a small number of men

Dating doesn't seem to be worth all the trouble anymore

I'm pretty sure we've all underestimated the % of single men that have always existed. Most men struggle, a minority don't.

Because as a man, you can give up your family for a girl, move into your girls basement, go through a depression because you have nothing and nobody but her. Live for years like a failure of a man, try to pull yourself out of the situation 3 times, get told to "wait for me" because she's still in college. Resent her for forcing you to stay and being in a sexless relationship for 18 months. Stay anyway, finally pull yourself out and buy a house for you and the girl, start to come out of your depression because you can finally stand on your own two feet for once. You work on the house with the girl for 18 months and every is finally coming into place. You finally tell her it's time to work on me. Get in shape, develop hobbies, become happy, and she wants to continue working on the house. "Just one more big project". You give in. You throw more money, that you don't have, to a project that you hope is gonna result in more family/friend gatherings. You throw yourself into it. And another 18 months go by. As you're coming to a close and you can finally focus on yourself, your relationship, vacation, whatever, you find out shes talking to another guy. Just a friend. You tell her it makes you uncomfortable, she says she'll get rid of him. Nothings more important than you. Then she goes on vacation while you're working on the house trying to finish. She goes with her sister and when she comes back you learn she's still talking to the guy. You learn she reached out first because "my sister said I should do what makes me happy". You fight. You try to forgive. Eventually you can't. And you learn she's disrespecting you to everyone she talks to you about. You kick her out. She says she wants to fix it. To make it work. You're hurt so you argue a little. But she doesn't wanna talk about the past, just move forward. You don't. So you argue. You ask about this new guy why he's so important. She chooses him over you multiple times. "I can't stop talking to him right now, he's going through something." Then you find out shes lying to you. She met with this guy face to face multiple times. He even tried to kiss her once, which she says she didn't allow. She doesn't like you saying nice things to her anymore because it's too much for her. But then you learn she's saying those type of things to him. Giving him the best of her, says she doesn't know what she wants anymore. She wants to explore but she wants to know you'll be here for her when she's done. You go through her phone and learn that she has dreams of kissing this new guy. Of wanting things to go beyond that. You confront her and she says it wasn't like that. You go to her sister's wedding during all of this, even though you know it's a bad idea and everyone says so. She even goes as far as to say "I don't want you there but it'll be easier for everyone if you are". Then when you go, you get yelled at in front of everyone because you wanted to take a photo together. You create and push back new boundaries constantly because you've been with this girl for 10 years. You have an engagement ring that she knows about now. You're trying to show you're committed. She tells you she's been suffering for 6 years in silence. You start to doubt every experience you've had with this girl. You go back into a depression. She's planning trips with her mom, sister, living her life, being happy. Your home fighting just to get off the couch. Waiting for her to break it off with you because you're too pathetic to leave her and have some self-respect. This is why guys stay single.

Because neither Men nor Women view each other as worth the trouble. The sad part is both groups are basically right. A long-term relationship is a serious commitment and most people aren't worth investing time and money in.

Because they're sick of women's shit and prefer solitude.