Sextech Use as a Potential Mental Health Reprieve: The Role of Anxiety, Depression, and Loneliness in Seeking Sex Online

Abstract

Depression, anxiety, and loneliness have long been recognized as global mental health concerns. To temporarily relieve psychological distress, self-soothing behavior is common, including engagement in sexual behaviors that are linked to positive mental well-being. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated many mental health ailments alongside physical distancing regulations, we specifically examined online sexual behavior via the use of emergent digital sexual technologies, or sextech. In a 2019 study of 8004 American adults, we assessed whether people experiencing higher anxiety, depression, and/or loneliness were more likely to engage in sextech use. Furthermore, we examined whether anxiety or depression mediated the association between loneliness and sextech use, as loneliness is one contributor to anxiety and depression. People with higher anxiety and depression were more likely to engage in sextech. However, those who were more lonely were less likely to engage with sextech, suggesting the aforementioned patterns were not due to lack of social connection. Our findings suggest people with mental health struggles may be drawn to interactive, digital forms of sexual behavior as a means of alleviating symptoms through distraction or self-soothing. This insight offers an important pathway for expanding the scope of mental health interventions, particularly as technology becomes increasingly prevalent and accessible in everyday life.

Virtual Reality Pornography: a Review of Health-Related Opportunities and Challenges

“…Participants were recruited from a previous SA study and through social media in France High-SA participants showed increased discomfort as a factor of time exposed to VR pornographic performance by a synthetic actor Subjective measures of discomfort were increased significantly in high-SA participants through increased exposure to a synthetic character displaying erotic behaviours in a virtual room Liberati [ 38 ] Non-empirical Phenomenological assessment of teledildonic possibilities Teledildonics have the potential to re-shape our living body and, in so doing, re-shape our affections as well as our perception of the world Teledildonics provide tactual sensations that simulate part of a subject’s body as being relocated in another place, enabling a subject to ‘connect’ and to ‘play’ with a second subject as if they were actually in the same place at the same time, in other words, to engage in remote sexual activity Liberati [ 39 ] Non-empirical Critical analysis of the effects of the introduction of teledildonics on sexual lives according to postphenomenology and mediation theory Teledildonic use will have a transformative effect on the scope and range of human sexual relations and human-object sexual relations Teledildonics will allow human beings to have sexual intercourse with every object around by turning them into sexually interactive ‘quasi-others’. This will affect the way we give meanings and values to love and sex in general Marcotte et al [ 37 ] Empirical quantitative Survey of 8004 American adults, mean age 44.05, 47.8% male, 51.2% female, 1% other People with mental health struggles may be drawn to interactive, digital forms of sexual behaviour as a means of alleviating symptoms through distraction or self-soothing People with higher anxiety and depression were more likely to engage in sextech. However, those who were lonelier were less likely to engage with sextech, suggesting the aforementioned patterns were not due to lack of social connection McArthur and Twist [ 47 ] Review Review article of issues associated with emerging sexual technologies A framework for understanding the nature of digisexuality and how to approach it is imperative for clinicians and researchers Many practitioners are unfamiliar with new technologies like teledildonics, as well as the social, legal, and ethical implications of this technology Milani et al [ 24 •] Empirical quantitative …”

“…This can create a feeling of 'being there' through sensory biofeedback as well and auditory and visual immersion [1,35]. Empirical research has found that people with mental health struggles may be drawn to interactive, digital forms of sexual behaviour as a means of alleviating symptoms through distraction or self-soothing [37]. From a phenomenological perspective [38], the person using teledildonic technology can freely define gender, use the teledildonics to record their actions, and change them by translating them as they please.…”