But correlation does not imply causation.
Posted 10.31.2012 at 1:48 pm
19 Comments
Teen Texting
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A new as-yet-unpublished study claims that teens who have smartphones are more likely to set up hookups. It may be because smartphones make it simpler.
Specifically, teenagers with Internet access on their phones are two times more likely to have sex with someone they met online, compared with teens who don’t use smartphones. But the study author was quick to point out that smartphones are likely not causing risky teen sex.
Correlation does not always imply causation--these teens might be finding sex partners in different ways if they didn't have smartphones. Maybe they needed smartphones to manage all their encounters. Or maybe the same factors that make them likely to have a smartphone, with all its attendant social networking, could also make them more likely to be sexually active.
The study also found teens who have Internet access on their phones are more likely to be sexually active, but that may not have a whit to do with the actual phones. Forty-seven percent of teens who owned a smartphone said they were sexually active, compared with 35 percent of those who don’t own a smartphone--not really a huge gap.
Rather, smartphones are an easy avenue for teenagers to set up sexual encounters, according to researcher Eric Rice, of the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work. In other words, these teens might set up their sexual encounters in a different way if they didn’t have instant, constant Internet. Smartphones aren't necessarily making them more promiscuous.
Rice and colleagues queried 1,839 high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, one-third of whom said they had a smartphone. Of those, 5 percent said they used the Internet to seek sex partners, and 17 percent said they had been approached for sex online.
If there's one key takeaway here, it's that sex education should start including discussions about the risks of seeking sex online. As Rice points out, parents have lots of ways to monitor and control their kids’ Internet access on home computers, but that doesn’t translate to cellphones. The study was presented at a meeting of the American Public Health Association.
[NBC]
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Humans are pleasure seekers, and it starts young. Smartphones do indeed make it simpler. I'm glad I am not a parent in this day an age.
What happened to the days of taking your dog for a walk in hopes of meeting someone? Now everyone is always with someone, alone or not.
If only I had this technology when I was a kid, I never would have met Sparky.
I think the kids with smart phones are higher on the social ladder because you need money for a smart phone and therefore are "more attractive."
Or it could just be because the live in LA...I think that if this study were done elsewhere there would be a vast difference in all the numbers.
Smartphones have made it easier for me, so yeah, I would expect they have made it easier for teens too.
I don't believe this is for good looking people only or wealthy ones, most Americans are fat, also have you never seen a cellphone wielding welfare family? Higher on the food chain ladder maybe, not the social ladder. I will assure you, if you have a phone and a reproductive organ, you are taking part.
Those higher on the social ladder are just having more fun.
@haywall
Your comment is more or less what I think is happening, the students with smartphones are often the richer kids so they get the nicer clothes and other things to make you look better, and if you look better you are more likely to have sex.
I am speaking as a high schooler so I think that's a pretty good source.
I hate to break it to you but fat people fuck too.
The rich kids always got laid more, so that's irreverent.
I have a smartphone and I can definitively say it hasn't helped me one bit.
Tonight my 3.5 year old daughter asked me to ask Santa for an IPad. I'm screwed.
Do people really think a stranger from the internet is any different from any other stranger? There are no more risks from people you meet online than from people you meet on the street (you might meet more people online, but the proportion of nice and nasty people should be pretty similar)
@TiagoTiago
Actually there are far more risks online but regarding the article, I think they mean friends/acquaintances "hooking up".
Sure it's just a guess (unscientific) but to me, the more you communicate with the opposite sex (or same sex for some), the easier it is to get together ... and then get involved. Smartphones allow for easy communications at any time of day, regardless of setting. These devices circumvent many of the blockages and pitfalls that interfered with "socialization" in the past.
I think it speeds up romance in general for everyone connected via phone/internet.
I would venture a guess that is has nothing to do with the income levels of the people owning the phones (there are pre-paid smartphones out there too) but all in how the parents allow their children to use such phones. Do they monitor the content on the phone regularly? Do they allow them free reign over internet access, app purchases and texts?
Let's face it it--it isn't the phones or the apps making the kids hook up. It's inevitable that they will be faced with the choices to do so with or without a phone it's just that having the phone provides an easy way to communicate. It's just like passing notes in class only with smartphones you can take the notes home and you can also share pictures. I think, as with the internet, people often feel more comfortable sharing personal information when they don't have to be face to face with who they're speaking with and thus it creates this hotbed of hormones, comfort with sharing personal information/photos all in an easy to use, portable, gadget that also happens to come with a handy delete key for all messages and photos that have already been sent or received.
If parents don't pay close enough attention to notice how attached their child is to their phone, how much data they're using or ever take a moment to be concerned about what kind of information is going out/coming in to the phone then it isn't any surprise that those kids would be more sexually active. They're likely to be seeking that kind of attention anyway and smartphones just make it easier to do so.
I suspect that anything that enhances communication, which leads to trust and relationships will enhance the frequency of sex.
MY CHILDREN SHALL NEVER TOUCH A SMARTPHONE! NO! THEY SHALL NEVER TOUCH A PHONE!!
The study showed the correlation but not the biological reasoning for it. No, it's not just raging hormones. It's linked to the effects of the non-iodizing radiation emitted off the device. Smartphones consume and emit more due to them being used more often on a wi-fi or cellular network. What the radiation does biologically is stimulate Nitrous Oxide in the system which enables permeability for Histamine into the brain. When there is accumulation of histamine in the brain it leads to a number of effects. Swelling, GABA toxicity, over excited neurons excited but one of the effects related to this study is that is stimulates aggressive sexual drive. It also contributes towards inhibiting the pre-frontal lobes of the brain, the logic (knowing right from wrong decisions).
The act of sex releases hormones which help relieve the chemical imbalance and pain symptoms associated with the symptoms. The statistics correlate correctly to the biological studies on affected non-iodizing radiation suffers.
Are you having us on? I suppose you mean non ionizing radiation? I don't know where you get that information from, but according to your reasoning, one should get an erection if you have a cell phone in your trouser pocket. Cheap thrills for free. Spread the message.
jameslech,
When you cooked dinner, you used a whole lot of secret ingredients, didn't you! LOL
I bet your brownies are the best,... lol,.snort...!
Teenagers are at the peak of health and having sex is natural. They also want to feel safe. If they share enough communication and feel safe, it just opens the natural door for sex.
For those teenagers reading this, sex makes babies even if your on birth control. Yes birth control reduces the opportunity for making babies, but biologically all you body knows in making sex is to make a baby.
Hence, many married couples using birth control "DO" get pregnant all the time, to their surprise.
@FlyBoy83
Your entire second comment was irrelevant yet you felt the need to bring it up soo.. what's the point of calling someone else's comment irrelevant.
“Irrelevancy redundancy”, how cute, lol.