Men and women are more likely to have sex faster when they use social media and send text messages, according to a survey conducted by Shape and Men’s Fitness magazines.

In the third annual survey, in which 1,200 men and women participated, 80 percent of the women and 53 percent of the men said they believe social media lead to sex faster, according to a Jan. 24 article published on Reuters.

At Syracuse University, several students said they agree with the results and think social media, such as Facebook, and texting get them to the bedroom faster.

Gursewak Singh, a junior public health major, said he thinks texting and Facebook provide constant communication that speeds up relationships and intimacy.

‘Texting gives you a huge step over traditional methods of communication,’ Singh said. ‘People can communicate wherever and whenever. Plus, it’s a friendlier and faster way of working the relationship eventually leading to the bedroom.’

The study results could be an example of interview bias, said Pamela Shoemaker, a professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. But texting can be a great tool for shy students to make connections and a first move because text messages are harder to ignore than voicemails, Shoemaker said.

‘If a person is motivated to make connections to form sex partners, texting could be used as the most assertive way,’ Shoemaker said. ‘And as for introverts, the social media is a gold mine for those who are nervous in large crowds. Social media is a way to make friends and communicate about yourself without having to go through physical discussion.’

The survey focused not only on couples having sex but also on the effects social media has on current relationships and the increasingly common text message breakup. Forty-three percent of women and 27 percent of men experienced a breakup via Facebook or text, according to the Reuters article.

‘I know people often find out via Facebook what their boyfriend or girlfriend is doing when they are not together, and it often causes problems for the relationship,’ said Jonathan Tamargo, a junior environmental engineering major.

When people are in a relationship, 72 percent of women were reported to scope out their significant others’ former partners on Facebook, according to the Reuters article.

After a breakup, 81 percent of survey respondents said they were hesitant to defriend their exes on Facebook and 75 percent admitted to regularly checking their former partner’s profile page, according to the article.

Shoemaker, the Newhouse professor, said Facebook stalking is a way of looking back on the relationship and seeing what the person is up to. Without Facebook, she said people would still check in on their exes by talking to friends and family.

‘I do not see going back to Facebook and looking at photos and reading up on their lives as a bad thing,’ Shoemaker said. ‘It’s not unlike calling the person’s friends saying, ‘Hey, how are they doing, have they met anybody, etc.’ Facebook just takes that extra step away. It’s a substitute for physical connections so you have virtual connections and a virtual network you can constrain by manipulating the privacy settings.’

Shoemaker said she continues to emphasize the importance of privacy settings and wants everyone to remember that nothing on the Internet is private.

John Wolf, a doctoral student in Newhouse whose research focuses on social media and sex, said the survey’s results make sense because social media has allowed people to communicate on a more continuous basis.

‘It has not really changed behaviors,’ Wolf said, ‘just given us more options.’

blszklar@syr.edu

 

 

 

 

Published on February 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm