Study reveals young people today are having less sex than those of decades past

With the way sex is being broadcasted online, you would think that young people are having a ton of sex than previous generations.

This generation is different from the others, they are having less sex than former generations.

By the numbers

A recent study by JAMA Network Open found that over one-third of men between the age of 18 and 24 reported having had no sexual activity in the previous year.

According to Healthline, Researchers led by Peter Ueda, a postdoctoral researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, found that among men aged 18 to 24, the prevalence of recent sexual inactivity increased from almost 19 percent to almost 31 percent between 2000-2002 and 2016-2018.

Over the same time span, the percentage of sexually inactive women increased from 15% to 19%.

Why is this?

Delayed adulthood

Many adults are still stuck in childhood and delay adult activities.

This includes delaying not only sex but also dating, cohabiting with a partner, getting pregnant, and giving birth. Compared to teenagers in prior decades, teens in the 2010s were less likely to drive, consume alcohol, go out without their parents, and work at paid employment.

Social media use

Though speculations as to why this is happening are still going on, more time spent on social media has been attributed to the reasons less sex is being had.

Even though social media has increased the chances of meeting more sex partners people still prefer to use it for other things like watching and making TikTok videos.

A psychologist put it aptly, “There are now many more choices of things to do in the late evening than there once were and fewer opportunities to initiate sexual activity if both partners are engrossed in social media, electronic gaming, or binge-watching”.

Fear of intimacy

Most young adults do not want to delve into romantic relationships and may prefer casual and undefined activities. Taking the initiative to interact with people of other gender and forming strong bonds is not common these days.