WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Dr. Dawn Wiese: Could Fraternities Offer a Solution to Digital Isolation?

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Dr. Dawn Wiese is co-author of an opinion piece in Fox News, “Digital isolation is crushing young men — fraternities hold a proven solution.” She argues that digital isolation and social fragmentation among young men represent a mounting mental-health and social-cohesion crisis in America. Her research suggests that structured communities like fraternities offer a real, evidence-backed path to reconnecting men with community, mentorship, and meaningful relationships. She joined Harry Birzer on WRFH to discuss.

Hello, everyone. This is Radio Free host at 101.7 FM. I'm Harold Berzer, and with me today is Dr. Don Weiss. Dr. Don Weiss is the CEO of FRMT Limited, a adjunct facility, a Virginia military institute, and a past vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Washington League University. She's the author of the essay, Digital Isolation is Crushing Young Men, Fraternities Hold a Proven solution, the topic of today's interview. You can read that essay at foxnews.com. So Dr. Weiss, what motivated you to write this essay about digital isolation in young men? Was there a specific moment or data point that struck you as the tipping point? Sure. Thanks for asking that. So, you know, I have worked in higher education for my entire career, both on campus, as well as now

serving in my capacity, working with insurance related to higher education, and then also teaching at the university level. And, you know, one of the things that I have followed is what's happening with men on campuses. And specifically, there's been quite a bit of research of late on what's happening both with men who are in fraternities versus men who are not in fraternities. And one of the things that we're noting is those men who join college fraternities tend to do better in a number of areas, including specifically mental health. And one of the other things that appears to be happening with college age men is quite a bit of time spent online in not interacting with others in a social environment. And there was some polling at the end of October, and to go to your question, there was some polling at the end of October by Signal, which is Signal C-Y-G-N-A-L, which is a Washington, D.C.-based polling organization that looked at college men and,

and lifestyle. And what was noted is that men who are a part of organized groups and specifically men who join college fraternities are scoring much, much better in a number of areas, including their mental health, which has been a rising crisis for Gen Z men. Is it just mental health that men are improving in? Or is it academics and other categories as well? Well, so this particular poll that I'm referencing looked at, looked at digital isolation, looked at inactivity and inactivity in general. But there are other studies that look at academic performance and engagement in campus life. And again, both in the classroom and outside the classroom, fraternity men

are more engaged and report greater satisfaction with their college experiences. So what is the biggest contributor to this isolation that many men are feeling today? Is it mostly because of electronic device usage? Is it lack of brotherhood or is it a result of politics or in cultural influence or is it something else? Well, so I think you hit on kind of all three of them that what we're seeing among some men, some college age men is that they're spending more time online, they're not exercising. Exercise is actually also a key component to better overall health that we're seeing in college men.

They're avoiding the concept of organized groups. And interestingly, religion also surfaces that men who are practicing religion are also reporting better overall mental health. And that practicing of religion does not necessarily mean every Sunday, every Wednesday night. It really is just having some sense of religion in their life is contributing to better overall mental health. Is this an issue that we are recovering from as more people recognize it or is it only going to get worse? Well, I wish I had that crystal ball to tell you whether or not it's going to get worse. So, you know, we have, you know, it's been interesting. And again, with my career having been in higher education, we continue to see a decline in men pursuing higher education.

And we have been seeing declining rates of mental health for men. However, just recently, and when I say recently, it's only been the last two years, we're beginning to see a slight uptick in mental health for college age, for college age students. That breakdown of male-female is one of the things that we need to begin diving in a little bit more to see where those rising rates are. So you mentioned in your article that four out of ten men don't have a male mentor. Is this a lack of father figures or is it meant trying to find a male friend to be taken under the wing of? Again, I think you're hitting on the myriad of issues that could be considered in this. And I think it's one of the reasons why fraternity is scoring well when we look at national polling. that, you know, when you're in a fraternity, when you're in a fraternity community,

you not only have an older brother in that fraternity, you also have advisors of those fraternities and a structure that supports that overall system. And without that, as we continue to see fewer men in, for example, teaching positions at the K-12 level. You're seeing fewer mentors at fewer male mentors as young men are moving from K-12 to higher education. Is this a problem with men just not wanting to step up and be there for their other brothers, or is this from something else? well we're you know we're seeing less in terms of brotherhood we're seeing we're seeing fewer of these concerns in fraternity i i think it goes back to what you shared earlier that concept of

isolation so for for those for those young men who are more likely um to stay to themselves uh that's where we're seeing those um those lower rates uh related to uh engagement uh engagement and community and overall mental health. And so, you know, if I were talking with parents of young men, for example, I would be encouraging those parents to, you know, if they see that it's their son, their son is the one who is sitting behind a computer screen most of the time as opposed to getting outside. And I guess one of the things being, you know, a metaphor used for this is getting outside and touching the grass, that important role that parents can play to push their sons. Yes,

you know, there are, I'm not an anti-technology person by any stretch, but just like all things in life, there's a necessity of moderation in that. And so for parents, a role that they can play, is helping their, helping their sons see that whether it's college fraternity or organized, some, you know, organized groups like religious organizations on campuses, et cetera, the importance of getting from individual to community to something where people feel like they belong to something. I think is really a key that we see from these findings led to the polling in the end of October by signal. So you also argue that membership in a fraternity leads to better mental health,

stronger social connection in more mentorship and in-person interaction compared to non-affiliated peers. But are men who join fraternities, are they simply just already socially inclined? Or is that just a benefit of joining these fraternities? Yeah, you've really kind of hit on a, is it the chicken or the end? egg. And so it's kind of hard to know what is it. Are these men who are on their own willing to step out? And I think that this is where fraternities themselves and fraternity men on campuses have a role in this. When people feel like they're not going to be accepted, they're less likely to step out, right? But if there is intentional recruitment from fraternities to broader

communities on their campuses, I think we'll see a lot of men step out. It's not that I think having worked around fraternities for many years, it's not that every member of a fraternity is necessarily highly social. I think it's more that a fraternity chapter, I think, can really look like a microcosm of larger society. There are going to be those who are more social, those who are less social. And it's incumbent upon those in fraternities to offer that experience because we know that it is an experience that helps all men.

right so is it just the brotherhood that fraternities are offering or is it something else that fraternities are providing that is helping these men and certainly brotherhood is part of it but i also think you know it's what does brotherhood encompass right um so we know that the way fraternities are structured um when they're following their own rituals uh is to um encourage the best out of one another. And so if encouraging the best out of one another is the concept of brotherhood, then that also means doing your best academically, working in your communities, working to make the chapter a healthy place. And the interesting thing beyond the polling that we saw the end of October is we see that those things remain true for fraternity men after they graduate. There's been

quite a bit of data related to what happens to fraternity men when they graduate and what do they look like as compared with those who are not in fraternities. And what we see among men who have graduated, they are more involved in their communities. They are more likely thriving in physical health, mental health, financially, starting their own businesses, all of these things. And I think that when we get back to your initial question of, you know, what is brotherhood? I think brotherhood within fraternity is very intentionally about building one another up, offering that sense of confidence and community so that when men graduate, they're thriving in their communities. So your essay also frames changes in how society

views masculinity as a part of the problem that isolates men. What influence has that change had on how men relate to each other? Yeah, so one of the things I think is really interesting about how society has viewed men. And we can see this in higher education itself. Higher education is in terms of who's attending higher education dominated by women. And I will also. often ask people, when do you think that that change happened, that women began to outnumber men in college? And most people will say, oh, I guess it was probably maybe the early 2000s when actually it was in the late 1980s when women began to outnumber men in college. And, you know, that alone, I think, is something that we need to think about is what's happening within colleges, you know,

that men may not, may not be viewed and, and lifted up in the same way as women. It's, and as a woman who's worked in higher education, it's always kind of baffled me, knowing that my entire career in higher education, we've been in a female-dominated environment, and yet you're not going to see a men's center on campuses. you're more likely to see a women's center on campus. And so I think we have those kinds of messages to male students. You know, something is being said very subtly or perhaps not so subtly that women are the favored class on a college campus, which then, you know, leads one to realize, well, this may be part

of why men aren't finding that same value in college. And so fraternity offers a haven from that, right? That is one of the only male-only spaces left, unless you're a college athlete, that fraternity offers a male-only environment that has been diminished for, gosh, I mean, how many years ago? We're in the 1980s. You know, we're looking at a, we're looking at, you know, almost 40 years ago. Yeah, so you said that women tend to be more favored on college campuses, but do you think

they also need sororities in a similar way that some men need fraternities? Yeah, absolutely. I don't want, I don't want to suggest that, that sororities are not an essential part of the college campus. I'm very much the kind of person who believes that, I believe in the concept of freedom of association and under the First Amendment. And if a student is seeking a sorority experience, that's a fabulous thing. If a student is seeking the fraternity experience, that's a great thing.

So I don't see these as competing. Rather, I would reference the work of Richard. Reeves, who has been studying, studying men very, very broadly. And he suggests that often we will fall back on the idea of, is it men or is it women, rather than lifting both up that they don't have to be mutually exclusive, that we can, we don't have to force that competition, but instead encourage both men and women to be in that thriving space. Are there any other things that men can do other than join fraternities to help avoid these issues of mental health? Absolutely. And I'm so glad you asked that. So what we're seeing in the data, and I wrote specifically about fraternity men because it's an area that I study, but also men who exercise, men who join organized groups, and men who are in some way practicing religion. And again, that doesn't have to be.

That doesn't even have to be in every Sunday kind of thing. It's just the concept of having religion in their lives are those who are more likely to feel satisfied with their lives and satisfied with themselves individually. Okay. So your article ends by saying that we need to take these lessons seriously and expand on it beyond the college campus. What do you think that should look like? Thank you for asking that. I think that there are a lot of things that we can do beyond the college campus. One is what is the role of the church and how can churches be reaching young men?

When we think of exercise as being a vital part of this, what are things that we can do to attract men? There's a fabulous group out of Washington, D.C. that I learned about recently that simply started as a male exercise program and has expanded to become so much more of the men exercising together, the men getting together outside of exercising and kind of becoming vulnerable with one another and sharing greater things about life. And so I think if we can kind of tap into these what we know to be the positives

and encourage these male-only spaces that encourage mentorship from older men to younger men and building those senses of community, that's where we're going to see big dividends pay off. And then, I also speaking directly to parents, there is absolutely a role for parents to play K-12, college, and then even after college, to encourage men to get out in their communities.

I think often, particularly once students start college, parents, parents think, well, I've done my job and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to hope that it all plays out when really we know that parenting continues to be vitally important and the decisions made made by students once those students have enrolled in college. And so, you know, one of the, one of the groups that I hope sees the article that I wrote are parents and the roles that they play with their college age man. Right. So obviously no one can see the future, but what do you think the consequences might be if we don't take this issue seriously now? Well, I'm a firm believer that the best is yet to come. And I do remain optimistic. And I think there are a lot of people who are

working very hard to bolster things like fraternity and to encourage religious. because we know that that's a positive contributor. So I am ultimately an optimist in these areas. And certainly if we don't, you know, gosh, we'd be looking at a very lonely society. If men withdraw and women continue to outpace and excel, I do think we could be looking at some real areas of concern. I mean, then we're just getting back to basic biology, right? if we're already seeing declining birth rates in all Western cultures. And that would remain a, that's a kind of very basic level of concern of where this could be heading.

Yeah, thank you so much, Dr. Weiss. This is about all the time we have for today. But thank you so much for being part of this interview. This is Radio Free Hosto 101.1.7 FM. Thank you for listening. Thank you. You're going to be.