• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, February 11, 2014

With Valentine’s Day looming in all its fraught, nerve-wracking glory, everyone is thinking about sex and romance even more than usual. Happily, there is a mountain of research into the effects of digital media on our love lives and relationships to pore over with a pound of chocolate and a few nice bottles of merlot. 

The big takeaway, at least in my opinion: People are sending more naked photos of themselves.
 
That’s according to a new study from the Pew Research Center Internet Project, titled “Couples, the Internet, and Social Media.” Pew conducted a survey of 2,252 U.S. adults and found that 9% of cell phone owners have sent a sext — it’s noteworthy that Pew doesn’t even put it in quotation marks — of themselves to someone else, up from 6% in 2012.

Meanwhile, 20% of cell phone owners have received a sext from someone they know, up from 15% in 2012.
 
The roughly two-to-one proportion in sextees-to-sexters would seem to suggest that there are some promiscuous sexters out there, sending photos to multiple recipients. You know who you are. Oh, and here’s some food for thought: 3% of cell phone owners said they have forwarded a sext to someone else.

Married and partnered people are just as likely as singles to report having sent sexts, but single adults are more likely to report receiving and forwarding them.
 
Turning to digital technology’s impacts on relationships, most people think there aren’t any: 72% of those surveyed by Pew said they feel the Internet has “no real impact at all” on their relationship. However, there were definitely some effects, both good and ill. On the positive side, 21% said they felt closer to their spouse or partner because of online communications or text messages, with 9% reporting they have resolved an argument via these channels.
 
On the other hand, 25% said their spouse or partner has been distracted by their cell phone when they are together, and 8% have argued about the amount of time one of them was spending online. Young adults, ages 18-29, were more likely to report both positive and negative effects: 41% said they have felt closer because of digital communications, while 42% say their partner has been distracted by their phone, and 18% have argued about the amount of time they’re spending online.
 
With more and more couples meeting over the Internet, it’s heartening to know that the resulting marriages are just as durable as relationships that start offline. That’s according to a new study from the University of Kansas researchers, who examined 18,527 Americans who married between 2005-2012, comparing the outcomes for those who met online to those who met in other situations (e.g. via friends, at work, parasailing, on the floor of a bar bathroom).

The couples who met online were more likely to report being satisfied in their marriages than people who met offline. The study also found that younger married couples and African-American couples were more likely to have met via social-network sites than other online locations, such as dating sites.
 
Turning to Valentine’s Day plans, the 2014 McAfee Love, Relationships & Technology report, based on a survey of 1,500 U.S. adults, found that 91% of respondents who use social media planned to celebrate on social media. That includes 76% who plan to post messages to others, and 58% who plan to post photos. According to McAfee, 70% of 18-24 year olds have received sexually suggestive content from someone.