What’s Actually Killing Ambition

By the Editors of Can’t Be Censored

TORONTO – June 26, 2025

Something’s off — and most guys know it.
They’re not broken. They’re not lazy. But more and more, they’re stuck in neutral. Ambition is down. Risk-taking is down. Testosterone is down. Across Canada and much of the West, men under 40 are working fewer hours, dating less, exercising less, and reporting record levels of loneliness, distraction, and disconnection.

The question isn’t whether something’s wrong. It’s what’s causing it.

It’s easy to blame the job market, the housing crisis, or the culture. But dig deeper, and a quieter, more personal enemy emerges — a perfect storm of digital sedation. Cheap dopamine. Endless novelty. Infinite scroll. It’s not just bad for attention spans. It’s rewiring motivation itself.

Take porn. Never in human history has sexual stimulation been this available, this customizable, or this isolating. It promises intimacy and delivers apathy. Studies now link excessive use to lower drive, erectile dysfunction, and even reduced interest in real-world goals. Why hustle when your brain’s already getting rewarded?

Then there’s the phone — that little black rectangle that devours hours a day with zero return. Notifications, reels, memes, games, group chats, and arguments that don’t matter. It feels like connection, but it’s often the opposite. What could’ve been a deep work session, a gym hour, or an in-person hang turns into background noise and compulsive checking.

Combined, these habits don’t just waste time. They numb purpose.

Ambition isn’t a switch — it’s a muscle. And for a generation of men raised on instant access, constant distraction, and consequence-free stimulation, that muscle is getting weaker. Not because they don’t want to succeed, but because they’ve been trapped in a loop that hijacks effort at the source.

What’s left is passivity: a kind of comfortable numbness that feels safe, but slowly erodes everything worth building. Goals seem distant. Challenges seem too big. The path of least resistance becomes the default.

But it’s not permanent. The good news is that this isn’t about shame or blame — it’s about awareness. And once you see it for what it is, you can start breaking free.

Men don’t need motivation. They need friction. Something to push against. A reason to fight. Real connection. Real stakes. Real risk. That’s where fire comes from. Not from comfort — but from challenge.

If ambition is dying, it’s not because it’s outdated. It’s because it’s been hijacked.

Time to take it back.