Daily Twitter users have shorter relationships and masturbate more, claims new study

Relaxnews
Wednesday 20 April 2011 00:00 BST
Comments
(Ronen/shutterstock.com)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The results of a study published April 19 by online US dating site OkCupid found that people who use Twitter every day are more likely to have shorter relationships and engage in self-gratification than those who don't.

The data was taken from a sample of 833,987 users of the dating website and compared those who used Twitter everyday with the generic category of "everybody else."

The survey found that older daily Twitter users were likely to have the longest relationships - while, perhaps unsurprisingly, younger daily Twitter users had the shortest.

Daily Twitter users aged 18-24 averaged between nine and 12 months per relationship while the same age group in the category of "everyone else" averaged between slightly less than 10 months to around 13 months per relationship.

Those daily Twitter users aged between 40 and 50 averaged 15 months per relationship while the same age group in the category of "everyone else" had relationships lasting between 16 and 17 months.

The survey gave no reason as to why those who use Twitter on a daily basis would be likely to experience shorter romantic attachments.

A separate survey included in the dating company's report found that the odds that daily Twitter users aged 18-24 masturbated, or reported they were masturbating, on any day across all gender groups were 2:1, while the odds of "everyone else" across the same age group doing the same were significantly lower - about 1.6:1.

Read the full report: http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/10-charts-about-sex/

Online activities have long been thought by some to be a major cause of relationships breaking down, with numerous studies being conducted into the phenomenon of social networking sites and its effect on relationships.

Examples of two such cases include an April 20 report by technology news portal The Tech Journal that lawyers in the US have claimed social networking site Facebook is cited in nearly 20 percent of divorce cases, and a 2009 study by the CyberPsychology & Behavior Journal reporting findings that correlate time spent on Facebook with jealously in relationships.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in