It took some years of evolution to turn sex (between different sexes) from a stricly functional activity attuned to reproduction, into the recreational activity it is primarily observed today. And technology, like the anti-conception pill, did not play just a small role in that.


But evolution continues and how unromantic it may sound, technology influences our experience of love making. The Bed-O-Meter for example, is a sex monitoring app for the iPhone. The app was invented by Livvy Thompson, 25, in an effort to get her "lazy" boyfriend to take a bit more interest in the thrilling female hobby of calorie-counting – by measuring the "intensity" and length of each bed-based period of sexy-exercise and how much energy their fumblings consumed. It does so by being placed on the bed, then using the iPhone and iPod Touch’s accelerometer. And oh, it comes with both single- and multiplayer options.


What does this mean? Is this something to get the creative juices flowing between the sheets? Or is technology taking the place of our innate capability to distinguish capable parters for biological reproduction?


Don’t be ugly by accident

Another example could be the observations made by dating site OK Cupid that where posted on their official blog under the title ‘Don’t Be Ugly By Accident!’. After analyzing 552,000 example user pictures they drew some interesting conclusions about the relationship between the used technology (i.e. camera brand, aperture etc) and attractiveness – as perceived by people in their test panels. According to their research, your chances of getting a succesfull date (whatever that means) would increase dramatically when you would take your OK Cupid profile pic late afternoon, with a Panasonic camera, with a low aperture and no flash intead of round noon, high aperture a flash – and a Minolta DSLR.


Also interesting is the observation that 30-year-old iPhone users are significantly more sexually active that Android or Blackberry users. It seems that the more sexuality is technology-driven, the more technology itself becomes a signifier of sexual attractiveness. As new technologies often trigger ancient impulses, I am sure how the photography business will react to this.


Read the survey. Buy an iPhone. Get a date.


Enjoying this story? Show it to us!

0 Likes

Share your thoughts and join the technology debate!

1 comments

  • Just a quick correction, the OK Cupid statistics say only that iPhone users have had more sexual partners (by self-report), not that they are by any means "more sexually active," as you claim. Also, do I detect more bitterness in this post, than is usual here?

    Posted on

More like this