Sex or Smartphones: Which Would You Give Up?

Coffee, smartphone, alcohol or sex? A survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of 1,000 registered American voters showed that given a choice of what to give up for one week, sex topped the list.

About 29 per cent of the Americans would rather have their caffeine fix, while a close 28 per cent are not willing to give up their smartphones and 23 per cent are not willing to fast on alcohol, the survey results said.

Only 12 per cent expressed unwillingness to give up sex for one week.

"Our poll shows that the tech revolution has changed our culture to the point that too many Americans seem to derive more pleasure and satisfaction from their smart phones and text lives than from their relationships and sex lives," Dailykos.com quoted Ron Sachs, president and chief executive officer of Sachs Media Group which created the infograph for the data.

However, when broken by gender lines, men and women showed different preference, but in the case of both genders, sex was a last priority though they differed in the importance given to the three other habits.

For females, coffee and smartphones tied up on first place at 34 per cent while alcohol logged only 20 per cent. For males, alcohol topped the list of things they are not willing to give up for one week, registering 26 per cent. It was followed by caffeine (23 per cent), smartphones (21 per cent) and sex (20 per cent).

By age group, the technological divide becomes obvious since those below 50 are not willing to give up their smartphones versus coffee for those over 51. Ironically, in the younger age group of 18-34, only 30 per cent picked smartphones as their top choice while it was 38 per cent for those in the 35-49 age group. However, in the case of coffee, 33 per cent of those in the 50-64 age group are not willing to sacrifice their caffeine fix versus 46 per cent for those 65 and above.

Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon explained, "Increased interest in caffeine can be directly linked to decreased interest in sex ... However, there is no such link between alcohol and sex. That suggests that liquor is a better aphrodisiac than coffee."

But Mr Sachs stressed, "It's not necessarily a good sign that smart phones rival alcohol and sex as a certain new American addiction."

Mobile phone experts pointed out that manufacturers off cell phones placed an on and off button on the device which should be a reminder that the gadget is supposed to be man's slave, not the other way around.