Unless they were homeschooled or attended an all-male high school, these 18-25 year old dudes went to high school with plenty of female classmates (and many 18-25 year old dudes are either in college or at least attended college)
They've had plenty of opportunities to ask out the opposite sex.
The homeschool and the all-male high school audiences are different audiences.
Over the years, I've met more males that have attended all-male high schools vs. the homeschooled. On this forum,
@MatureDJ still talks about attending an all-male high school in the 1980s. The experiences of an all-male high school can have a long term negative effect.
I'll start this talking more about the effects of an all-male high school.
In most US cities with all-male high schools, there's an all female high school nearby. The all-male high school and the all-female high school in the same area have a relationship. Sometimes, there are socials between the 2 schools. The socials are about once a month, which cannot compensate for a lack of daily interaction on campus.
If a male goes to an all-male high school, his sexual success during high school is going to be mostly dependent upon the network he's built during the K-8 years. If his elementary and junior high experiences had numerous females, he's better positioned. If he has a slightly younger sister (1-2 grade levels younger), then he'll have more interactions with females. Without a slightly younger sister or a good K-8 network (usually built from being in the same school/school feeder pattern), he's going to find 4 years at an all male school to be quite difficult. It might even take him years to recover from that after high school. Showing up at a co-ed college/university isn't going to make him ready to seduce right away.
I'm less familiar with the homeschool audience. From what I know about homeschoolers, they tend to have good social networks through activities (after school sports, etc.) or even their church participation. This tends to happen out of necessity. Some homeschoolers can be socially awkward, but that seems less common. Having a younger sister matters less for homeschoolers (since the younger sister is also likely homeschooled too).
I think both audiences have difficulty adjusting to a co-ed college/university if they go to one after high school. Males from neither of these audiences tend to be the best on campus seducers at college. In fairness, a lot of males who went to co-ed high schools often struggle in the college sex environment, but the co-ed high school males are better positioned for social success.
Homeschooled males and all-male high school males are a smaller percentage of males in general. Most males went to a co-ed high school.
There are a multitude of reasons 45% of 18-25 year old dudes haven't asked out a member of the opposite sex in person. The idea that they haven't been in positions to meet a member of the opposite sex, however, isn't the explanation.
Agree. It's mostly the influence of technology in Generation Z and the latter part of the Millennial generation. You are a late Millennial so you saw this. Most earlier Millennials like me asked out women on dates by age 20 or so.