The reason Faux News is pro-phone sex and the reason so many Americans are into it is because the USA is so sex-negative, so riddled with neuroses and fears, that an overwhelming number of people these days simply can’t handle the idea of being with a real person in the same physical location. Yet, we all have needs. Hence sexting, phone sex, and the endless online erotic to-and-fro messaging that reliably leads…. absolutely nowhere. People imagine they’re being sexually liberated while remaining inside a psychological prison.

The fact is, the tiny dopamine jolts people get from virtual interactions have become sad little substitutes for the enormous dopamine hit you get from a real-life encounter. But on the positive side these virtual encounters are risk-free, fear-free, and people can pretend to be whatever they want, which some find liberating (especially if they have major issues about sex, which growing up in the USA pretty much guarantees will happen).

My personal opinion is that phone sex / sexting / etc. is valid when there’s a huge distance between the two people and they want to use whatever tools they have to lessen the distance psychologically if not physically. But used as an avoidance mechanism, as a feeble substitute for real life, well…

Personally I loathe this modern experience because it’s fundamentally empty, but then I grew up without technology and use it today merely as a tool, not as a pale ersatz substitute for real life.