Why young people have less sex: porn, cell phones and the search for “something more”

Today, Andrés, 27 years old, has masturbated four times.

Three at night, because he couldn't sleep, and another in the afternoon.

He does not want to give his real name.

He jerked off watching porn on his cell phone, in the bathroom.

He prefers his room, but his girlfriend was there.

They have been together for six years, and for two years they have hardly had sex.

It seems to him “a complicated thing,” more so than when he started.

“Sometimes it even makes me sick to think about it.”

For part of society, the relationship with sex seems to be changing.

Studies keep appearing that claim that people are having less and less sex, especially among young people.

In February, the newspaper

published the findings of an IFOP (French Institute of Public Opinion) survey that revealed that only 76% of sexually active people had sex in the last year, a drop of 15 points since 2006. The decline It was pronounced in the 18 to 24 age group, more than a quarter without activity, five times more than in 2006. The frequency has also decreased: only 43% have weekly activity, compared to 58% 18 years ago.

The British

asked: “If France loses interest in sex, what hope do the rest of us have?”

More information

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The fear of a global “sexual recession” was introduced in 2018 by

magazine , following a survey that illustrated a decline in young Americans' interest in sex.

In Spain there are no such conclusive studies.

The

carried out by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) and published in 2023 did say, at least, that four out of ten Spaniards prioritized their partner's contribution to household chores over a good sex life.

Each study is followed by a parade of theories, many linked to porn.

François Kraus, director of the IFOP survey, points out: “It generates fantasies so powerful that, for some, reality seems insipid.”

Other analyzes emphasize the exhaustion caused by the system, which leaves no energy for sex after exhausting days.

Stress and anxiety can also lower libido.

Changes in interpersonal relationships are also cited: digitalization makes the development of deep ties and physical contact difficult.

Many articles agree on considering it a problem and describe it as “Generation Z sexual crisis”, “invisible pandemic” or “death of desire”.

But that vision rarely emanates from the generation mentioned.

In this sense, Kraus believes that the attitude of young people could be a reaction against what was established, especially the liberal relationship with sex that emerged from May '68.

The philosopher Margot Rot, 27, author of

(Paidós, 2024), suggests that, in the absence of prohibitions that previously drove the desire to transgress, the interest of young people could be shifting.

“Perhaps what is most curtailed today is the possibility of generating intimacy.

In a generation less limited by fears, prejudices or lack of information about sex, which is no longer even a taboo, it may have transformed into a desire for something else.”

Young people may be looking for a different form of intimacy.

Teresa, 26 years old, without relationships since December, expresses herself along these lines: “It started as December without boys, it became January without boys and, it seems, in the end it will also be February.”

She is not worried about this period of abstinence.

"While I think it's great that there are those who feel comfortable having sporadic relationships, I prefer to go slower and establish a relationship of trust."

In

(Ariel, 2024), the writer Frédéric Lenoir suggests that, instinctively, the experiences of past generations are being rediscovered, for whom the period of getting to know each other was a socially imposed practice of courtship.

“Not having sexual relations from the first encounter allows desire to arise, but a desire that is not only physical, but more complete.

"Time creates a climate of trust necessary for the sexual relationship to continue."

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