The data looks grim: nearly half of US adults are single, a quarter of men report loneliness, and one in four Gen Z adults have never had partnered sex. Dr. Justin Garcia, executive director of Indiana University's Kinsey Institute, calls it an "intimacy crisis" - and technology is the accelerant.
Garcia's new book The Intimate Animal draws on his dual role leading sex research and advising Match Group. The central finding: humans evolved for deep pair-bonding, but dating apps weaponize choice against connection. Match data shows billions of daily swipes yield roughly 2% matches. The cognitive overload isn't a bug, it's the business model.
"We have more people available to us than ever before," Garcia told WIRED. "But the depth of the connections, the quality of the connections, is not there." His research suggests intimacy - not sex - drives modern relationships, but digital platforms optimize for volume over meaning.
The biological trade-off
Garcia's work connects several threads. When nervous systems stay tuned to threats (economic instability, climate anxiety, political chaos), mating behavior shuts down. Add dating apps that replace physical cues - touch, smell, presence - with infinite digital choice, and you get rising depression despite unprecedented connectivity.
The Match Group Singles in America survey backs this up. Non-monogamy can work, Garcia notes, but requires more communication, not less. The real problem: platforms that encourage voyeurism over vulnerability. Adults over 50 report deeper relationship satisfaction now than before, suggesting experience matters more than perfection.
What this means in practice
For enterprise tech leaders building social platforms or dating products, the pattern is clear: features that maximize engagement may be undermining the biological outcomes users actually want. Garcia's findings suggest the industry needs to optimize for intention and depth, not swipe volume.
The irony: Gen Z, labeled the "kinkiest generation," is actually having less sex than previous cohorts. Technology promised connection. It delivered isolation at scale. The next generation of platforms will need to solve for actual human bonding - or keep failing the same way.