Quote :

– Tue Jan 25, 11:31 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – Nearly four out of five women and three of five men say they believe texting, Facebook and other social networking tools cause new couples to jump into bed faster, a survey released on Monday showed.

But only 38 percent of women say they have actually slept with a date any sooner because of digital intimacy, according to the 1,200 women and men who participated in the third annual sex survey by Shape and Men's Fitness magazines.

Smart phones and laptops are the new toys that lead to the bedroom, it said, with nearly 80 percent of women and 58 percent of men saying social media tools leads to sex faster.

Texting is the No. 1 way lovers stay in touch, the survey found, with men texting 39 percent more often than phoning and women 150 percent more.

Even before the magic begins, 70 percent of women and 63 percent of men use Google and other online tools to screen potential dates.

Sixty-five percent of those polled said they had been asked out by text and 49 percent through a Facebook message.

Once the relationship clicks, 72 percent of women report scouring a current partner's ex-girlfriends' Facebook pages.

Even in the heat of passion, some people just can't get enough of their digital devices, the survey found. When a call or text comes in during sex, 5 percent of respondents said they glance to see who is calling and 1 percent say they stop to answer the phone.

And when the spark is extinguished, digital dumping is the new way to break up, with 43 percent of women and 27 percent of men reporting getting a text along the lines of "It's not you, it's me."

For the heartbroken, the Internet keeps hope alive, with 81 percent of all respondents saying they won't de-friend an ex on Facebook and 75 percent admitting to constantly checking a former sweetheart's page.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Jerry Norton)

So, in your experience, if you've spent the entire day sending flirt texts to someone on your phone, how soon does the sex happen when you finally see them in person? Is it practically a guarantee?

In my opinion you'd have to be pretty pathetic to set a new record for jumping into bed just because you text all day with someone or know each other on Facebook.

I haven't dated in the age of texting or social networking, but it all makes sense to me. "Knowing of" someone via something like Facebook gives a greater sense of trust than just exchanging numbers, then going out, basically blind, the next week. Same thing for texting. In my day, it was a phone call to set the date, but usually no other communication unless we shared a class or something like that. But with texting, you may gain a comfort level with "hey how's your day going" sort of texts.

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer meeting a chick or guy in a crash pad or coffee house, and if they seem amenable, ask them if they want to make luv. If they say yes, go to some private place and do it.

BTW, that was done without any electronic devices - not even a phone, but it did require you to walk about and look around IRL.

The trouble with online social networks is you meet ppl all over the country and world. How do you hook up with someone thousands of miles or an ocean away?

Now I have hooked up with two guys that I first met online, but that was a fluke. One, a MySpace friend, told me he would be in Miami for one day because he won a cruise. He was from Texas.

The other lived across the lake from New Orleans and came to visit me in my hotel when I was passing thru that city.

So, unless your social network is in the same city where you physically live I can't see it any better for scoring than going out IRL and meeting someone warm.

Oh, and this is pathetic.

"Even in the heat of passion, some people just can't get enough of their digital devices, the survey found. When a call or text comes in during sex, 5 percent of respondents said they glance to see who is calling and 1 percent say they stop to answer the phone."

Can't even give up the addiction for sex? That is hooked. Go to rehab.

Chris wrote:

So, in your experience, if you've spent the entire day sending flirt texts to someone on your phone, how soon does the sex happen when you finally see them in person? Is it practically a guarantee?

I'd say so, yes. If all two people do is send each other suggestive messages back and forth then the tone for when they meet is pretty set, all that's left to do is close the deal.