The world is changing and for young people, those changes are having a profound effect on their sex lives. A new survey from the General Social Survey has found the portion of Americans 18 to 29 reporting no sex in the past year more than doubled between 2008 and 2018, to 23 percent.

It's even higher for millenial men - 28% reported having no sex last year. The number of young women abstaining from sex is smaller but still saw an 8% increase since 2008.

Washington Examiner:

The lack of sex is being driven mainly by young men. In the last decade the share of young men saying they had no sex in the last year has nearly tripled to 28 percent. Young women have seen an increase since 2008 of 8 percentage points.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, said that partnering up later in life is contributing to sexlessness.

“There are more people in their twenties who don’t have a live-in partner,” she said. “So under those circumstances I think less sex is going to happen.”

Participation in the labor force among young men has also declined in the last decade, and young men are more likely to live with their parents than young 

“When you’re living at home it’s probably harder to bring sexual partners into your bedroom,” Twenge said.

She also cited technology as a factor. “There are a lot more things to do at 10 o’clock at night now than there were 20 years ago,” Twenge said. “Streaming video, social media, console games, everything else.”

Another factor driving what's being referred to as "America's sex drought" is the aging population. While the number of people over 60 not having sex has remained constant at 50%, the increased population of seniors has driven the overall numbers higher.

I'm sure all those factors cited above contributed to the lack of sex among America's young. But my admittedly unscientific observation is that the over sexualization of society has taken the mystery out of sex. And the hook up culture has destroyed intimacy.

Sex without intimacy is empty and meaningless. Most men and women could do better by themselves. When sex is so pervasive as it is on the internet and even on TV, sex becomes separated from something shared in a loving relationship and becomes a bordeom killing exercise. There's no mystery, no excitement at meeting someone new, getting to know them, and building intimacy. The process is short circuited and young people end up finding better things to do than woo a member of the opposite sex.

I know I'm old fashioned but I came of age in the "anything goes" 1970s. Sure there was casual sex but there was also a desire to look for a life partner. I don't think young people today see the necessity of finding a mate largely because they are ignorant of intimacy and how special it is to be so close to another person that you feel joined at the soul.

That's really the only thing that makes life truly worth living.