What Happened To Masculine Revival?

I have barely been active on social media over the last few months. No podcast episodes, no posts, no nothing.

Why?

Well there’s a variety of reasons. First, my family went through a series of trials over the course of the summer that pulled me away from being online (and by the way, everything is exceedingly well for us now!)

Second, I’ve been working on a new project - my own dating app for traditionally minded singles who are looking to skip out on hook up culture and get married. Essentially this is my own rendition of “The Courtship Network” of which I was heavily affiliated with over the last year or so. For more on this project, follow me here… We are launching soon!

Thirdly - and this will be a bit of a longer answer - I have come to the realization that I don’t care at all for being an influencer, nor do I care for social media at all. Quite frankly I’m sick of it and I think that social media is a net negative on both society and the individuals who engage with it on a regular basis.

Social media has been beneficial for me in many ways, it played a role in me finding Christ, and it’s enabled me to run a business that allows me to work from home and have my wife be a full-time mother & homemaker.

When I look back at when I first started Masculine Revival, I can see that I really had a lot to prove to myself and to the world. Coming from brokenness, and being lost, and going through so much turmoil, I felt like I needed to “make it” to prove to myself and the world that I was worth something. I wanted to be a “somebody” because I spent a lot of time in my life feeling like a nobody.

But things have a way of coming full circle, and after becoming a sort of somebody on a fringe corner of the internet, I’ve really started to long for a quiet, simple, hidden and small life.

I used to put *a lot* of stock in my business and my work. There is such an emphasis in our culture on “finding your purpose” and doing meaningful work. Everyone wants to find their passion and then live it now a days.

I actually found my passion and my calling, I do impactful and meaningful work in the world, I make a difference in the lives of others for a living. On top of that I get to live the laptop lifestyle and have almost complete control over my time and my schedule… And you know what? It really isn’t the be all end all that it is made out to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but there was probably some part of me that thought I could actually find ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction through my work. Now I am really starting to see work simply as a means to a noble end; providing for my family and giving me the ability to invest my time into the things that matter to me the most.

Anyways, I think social media is a tool that can be used for good, but unfortunately the way that these platforms are designed nowadays, you end up getting so much garbage pumped into your mind in the process of trying to do that good or extract that good. I also tire of the constant back and forth arguing and reactionary content that is often required to get likes and attention. The algorithms seem to push content that invokes a feeling of outrage to keep us engaged.

Having been a professional content creator for over 3 years, when I scroll I can’t help but notice that most of the content is just people trying to market or sell something. Everyone is trying to capture your attention to capitalize off of it… So you open the app and start getting convinced that you need something you weren’t even thinking about 30 seconds before. I say this as I found a way into your inbox, and now here you are reading this!

I could rant about it further, but I think you get the idea.

My hope moving forward is that I can find ways to be on social media as little as possible, and in my real life as much as possible.

My hope is that The Masculine Revival Brotherhood continues to thrive and continues to serve and impact the lives of men in a positive way.

And that The Unplugged Network helps people find someone worth marrying and starting a life with… and hopefully once they do they can “unplug” from social media forever and actually live their life together in peace :)

P.S - Our second child is due on October 26th, we are very excited, and a little nervous to see what having two under the age of two is going to be like…!

Thanks for reading,

Brendan