America faces "sextinction" as social media, screens alter intimacy

America is on the verge of a “sextinction.” Shocking new data show that one in three men and one in five women in the U.S. have gone an entire year without sex, sparking concerns about loneliness, declining testosterone levels, and the future of intimacy, the New York Post writes.

Experts point to social media as a key culprit. In her new book Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the Future of Intimacy, sex neuroscientist Dr Debra Soh argues that unrealistic online ideals are reshaping desire.

Author Debra Soh argues that technological and environmental factors are contributing to the sex recession.

“The idealization of impossibly high standards has coaxed men into believing that influencers with millions of followers may one day show interest in them,” Soh writes. “It has persuaded women to give attention only to men who are over six feet tall and astronomically wealthy.”

Dating apps are also changing human behaviour, she says. “Swiping through hundreds of potential partners at a time is unprecedented in our evolutionary history,” Soh told The Post. “This abundance of choice is overwhelming our instincts and sidelining even the best of us.”

Pornography and AI companions are compounding the issue. Ready access to explicit content is conditioning young people to seek sexual gratification from screens, while AI partners offer fully customizable romantic interactions.

“Your AI partner can look exactly how you want, respond exactly as you wish, and be endlessly ‘redoable,’” Soh said. “It’s realistic, convenient, and dangerous. Real people simply may not measure up.”

Soh warns that these trends are reshaping not just sexual behaviour, but society itself. “Most of us yearn to be understood and appreciated,” she says.

“The more we displace these needs with glittering digital distractions, the more biology will punish us.”

She also highlights environmental factors, from endocrine-disrupting chemicals to soy products in infant formulas, that may be subtly altering hormones and further discouraging intimacy.

Ultimately, Soh argues that America’s screen-obsessed culture is pushing millions into prolonged sexual isolation, with potential consequences for fertility, personal relationships, and human connection.

“Human beings are meant to see each other’s eyes, hear each other’s voices, and interact face-to-face,” she writes. “We are not meant to hide behind screens.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev