Generation no sex! Why internet is a passion killer for the young

WITH the rise of online dating, it has never been easier for the younger generation to find love. But it seems the new technology is actually having the opposite effect.

Those aged between 16 and 21 have become so absorbed in the internet they are having less sex than earlier generations, a major study has found. And one in three are abstaining from sex altogether.

The findings reveal a different side to the rising popularity of dating apps and changing attitudes to sex.

Glasgow University researchers conducted hour-long interviews with 2,300 Britons to establish the state of the nation’s love life. Over a third of those questioned said they had sought help about their sex lives in the last year. Both men and women said a lack of interest was one of their main reasons for avoiding sex.

The rate of British young people abstaining from sex – 28 per cent – is almost twice as high as in the US.

The report, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, warned that pornography was blighting young men’s ability to have a meaningful sexual relationship.

It added: ‘Pornography may lead to unrealistic and harmful expectations of sex among young men’. The study supports recent research, which found young people are having less sex than any of their predecessors since the 1920s.

Experts have blamed the ‘Facebook effect’ as more youngsters socialise online rather than in person. The study may also explain why teen pregnancy rates are dropping, while older people’s libidos seem so healthy. One survey suggested more than half of older men still have sex twice a month.

The report said there had been too little attention paid to the ‘problems young people might have with sexual response and function,’ partly because they are ‘assumed to be more relevant to older adults’.