# 391: 'What Relationships Would You Want, if You Believed They Were Possible?' [The Ezra Klein Show]

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/dear-men-how-to-rock-sex-dating-and-relationships-with-women-1013303/391-what-relationships-would-you-want-if-you-believed-they-were-possible-the-ezra-klein-show
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/dear-men-how-to-rock-sex-dating-and-relationships-with-women-1013303/391-what-relationships-would-you-want-if-you-believed-they-were-possible-the-ezra-klein-show.md
Podcast: [Dear Men: How to Rock Sex, Dating, and Relationships With Women](https://stenobird.com/podcast/dear-men-how-to-rock-sex-dating-and-relationships-with-women-1013303)
Published: 2025-12-12T11:00:56+00:00
Episode link: http://www.melaniecurtin.com
Audio file: https://audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/2cc84aa9-be02-4407-b11e-a39486cfc5f3/stream.mp3
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Duration seconds: 3860

## Resource

ATTRIBUTION NOTE: This is NOT an original episode. This is a complete episode of The Ezra Klein Show that I'm posting here, with a note from me at the beginning. Original episode can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-relationships-would-you-want-if-you-believed-they/id1548604447?i=1000644331040 What follows is my own reasons for posting this: --- We are at a crossroads in our cultures and societies worldwide. In many places, social networks are in tatters. Mental health is abysmal in spots without tight-knit communities -- which, let's face it, is a growing number of places. The nuclear family paradigm has dominated over the past 50-75 years, but does it work? Evidence suggests otherwise. Single adults living alone are so lonely they often experience significant anxiety & depression. Parents are stressed and overwhelmed, with children taking up so much energy and attention that it's hard to connect as a couple (including sex! and other kinds of intimacy). And older adults are either aging alone, or in environments that sap their vitality. Studies show that trends around social isolation hit men particularly hard. According to Gallup , for example, "[Young men in the US] are significantly more likely than their female peers to experience deaths of despair." And: "Americans who experience daily loneliness are significantly less likely to report smiling or laughing ... They are also half as likely to be classified as 'thriving' in life." Let's review that: Lonely people are HALF as likely to be classified as thriving. And what happens when you're not thriving? You're almost always not having great sex, wonderful intimate relationships, or a satisfying love life. So what do we do about this? How do we "fix" the loneliness epidemic? This is the f…

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