Americans are getting it on less than at any other point in modern history, and the decline shows no sign of slowing. According to the latest General Social Survey (GSS) data collected in 2024 and analyzed by the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), just 37% of adults aged 18 to 64 report getting it on at least once a week. In 1990, that number stood at 55%. What was once considered a normal feature of adult life has quietly shifted into a minority experience.
The drop is most pronounced among younger Americans. Nearly one in four adults between 18 and 29—about 24%—reported not getting it on at all in the past year. That figure has doubled since 2010, when only 12% of young people fell into the “getting it on–less” category.
The curve of this change is striking: relatively stable through the 1990s and early 2000s, then a sharp climb upward after 2010. Researchers now describe this as a “hockey stick” pattern, aligning with what psychologist Jonathan Haidt has called the Great Rewiring.
The Great Rewiring refers to the rapid spread of smartphones and digital media in the early 2010s, which fundamentally reshaped adolescence and young adulthood. Time once spent in person with friends was increasingly displaced by screen-based interactions.
Between 2010 and 2019, average weekly social time with peers among young adults dropped by nearly half, from 12.8 hours to 6.5 hours. By 2024, the number was just over 5 hours. That loss of real-world connection has direct implications for intimacy. Fewer in-person gatherings mean fewer opportunities for relationships, and fewer relationships mean less getting it on.
The role of technology is not limited to courtship. Even among couples, digital media competes directly with intimacy. A 2023 IFS study found that married adults reported lower frequency of getting it on when partners spent more time on phones, gaming or streaming in the evenings.
The habit of “bedtime procrastination”—staying up late scrolling or watching—correlates strongly with reduced physical intimacy. In this sense, technology doesn’t just discourage new relationships; it undermines established ones.
Partnership trends also reinforce the decline. Between 2014 and 2024, the share of young adults living with a romantic partner fell from 42% to 32%. Since partnered adults are far more likely to get it on consistently—46% of married couples report weekly intimacy compared to only 34% of their unmarried peers—fewer relationships translate directly into lower rates of getting it on across the population.
The health consequences are not trivial. Regularly getting it on has been linked to stronger immune function, improved cardiovascular health, reduced stress and better sleep. Beyond biology, it also reinforces emotional connection, relationship satisfaction and general wellbeing. When intimacy declines, the effects ripple into broader measures of happiness and social stability.
It would be misleading to suggest that less getting it on automatically means less fulfillment—after all, frequency is not the only marker of quality relationships. But the replacement effect is harder to dismiss.
Americans are not simply getting it on less because of cultural change; they are spending more time immersed in digital environments that mimic intimacy but fail to deliver its biological and emotional rewards. Po**ography, social media and gaming offer stimulation and distraction, yet they do not release oxytocin, lower cortisol or build the bonds that sustain human flourishing.
References
Twenge, J.M., Sherman, R.A. and Wells, B.E., 2017. Declines in intimate frequency among American adults, 1989–2014. Archives of Intimate Behavior, 46(8), pp.2389–2401.
Institute for Family Studies (IFS), 2024. The Getting-It-On Recession: Findings from the 2024 General Social Survey. Institute for Family Studies Research Brief, May 2024.
Haidt, J., 2023. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. New York: Penguin Press.
NORC at the University of Chicago, 2024. General Social Survey, 2024. NORC at the University of Chicago.
Manning, W.D., Longmore, M.A. and Giordano, P.C., 2014. Frequency of intimacy and relationship satisfaction across marital statuses. Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(1), pp.131–147
