Britons are now so busy in the bedroom getting their kicks on Facebook and Twitter that they can’t be bothered to have sex, with activity between the sheets shrivelling up, according to a study published in The Lancet.
The survey of more than 15,000 people is carried out every ten years and found that the rise of technology is triggering a more flaccid approach to sexual activity, with couples having less sex than a decade ago.
The average for Britons questioned between 2010 and 2012 was 4.9 times a month for men and 4.8 for women among 16- to 44-year-olds. In 2000, Britons managed to have sex an average of 6.2 and 6.3 times a month, respectively.
Dr Cath Mercer, from University College London, said social media and ‘modern technologies’ were behind the trend.
She added: “People have tablets and smartphones and they are taking them into the bedroom, using Twitter and Facebook, answering emails.”
But though sex may be less frequent, the vast majority of Britons were feeling positive or satisfied with the sex they did manage to have – only one in 10 describes themselves as distressed or worried about their sex life.
The survey backs up a recent Future Foundation study which claimed almost half the UK’s workforce under the age of 35 check their emails while in the sack. Surveys dating as far back as 2009 have charted the rise of the so-called e-mattress. Back in 2010, 19% of Americans confessed to checking emails in the bedroom, while last year a survey by Good Technology (now VML) showed 37% of UK respondents admitted to routinely sending work email in bed.
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