{"text":[[{"start":8.93,"text":"A Reddit user who goes by the name Disastrous-Ad has a secret to share: he is 27 years old and has never had a girlfriend. In fact, he has never even held hands with a girl, let alone kissed one. Fellow members of Reddit’s r/lonely forum (“for all the lonely people”) know exactly how he feels. “I relate to this so much. Same age, same situation,” replies one. “It’s hard. But it’s a growing reality if it helps you feel less bad.”"}],[{"start":46.42,"text":"Welcome to life at the sharp end of the romantic recession, where today’s under-30s are more likely to be single than either their parents or grandparents were at their age. On TikTok, Nashville-based creator Jordy makes videos explaining what it’s like to go through your twenties without a partner. “This era of dating is actually HORRIFYING,” commiserates one of her followers. “No boyfriends no talking stage no situationships no NOTHING.”"}],[{"start":82.86,"text":"Every generation is supposed to rebel against the ones that came before — making choices that baffle their elders. But who could have predicted that Gen Z’s rebellion would be one of abstinence?"}],[{"start":99.11,"text":"The potential culprits for this romantic estrangement span high house prices (which force young people to live at home), pandemic social-distancing, overly protective parents and a growing political divide driving a wedge between liberal young women and more conservative young men."}],[{"start":122.15,"text":"But the real villain is the internet. Growing up with access to an online content free-for-all appears to have produced a generation with progressive attitudes and puritanical habits, who are increasingly likely to be teetotal, prefer not to see nudity in films and opt out of relationships. Dr Amanda Gesselman, research scientist at the Kinsey Institute, has described the change as a shift towards “self-sourced intimacy”."}],[{"start":155.69,"text":"As for the tech sector, its response has been to double down. Accused of creating the circumstances that have increased societal isolation, it has found a way to monetise the situation. In the past year, generative AI companies have released new tools marketed more as friends than productivity aids. At the tame end of the spectrum is Microsoft’s Copilot Appearance — a cute, squishy cartoon cloud. Talk to the AI chatbot in voice mode and the cloud will spin and jump and react with facial expressions as it talks back to you. (Sample chat: “I can’t WAIT to learn more about you.”)"}],[{"start":198.22,"text":"For racier interactions there is Talkie AI or Elon Musk’s Grok, which has a NSFW anime companion called Ani, who wears thigh-high stockings and will offer to flirt with you. The more you interact with Ani, the more clothes she will shed. And the more a user is willing to pay, the more intimacy is available. Luka’s Replika is the most lucrative companion AI app. Users can pick between creating a “mentor”, “partner” and even a “spouse”. Choose your companion, give them a name and decide who you want them to be. “A friend who listens and cares”, perhaps, or “someone to have fun together”. According to the company, most of the users who pay a £69.99 per year subscription are choosing romance."}],[{"start":252.95,"text":"Whether the prospect of an endlessly adoring AI companion sounds appealing or not probably depends on your age. Those with experience of more fractious human relationships may find it uncomfortable. But as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman recently pointed out, young people are already using AI chatbots as therapists and life coaches. So why not add friend and partner to the mix? Replika even claims that its chatbot gives users “a model of what a great, healthy relationship looks like” — training them for the real world. Given some of the options for an AI boyfriend are “dangerous outlaw” and “gothic vampire”, this seems like a stretch."}],[{"start":304.93,"text":"What has happened? How did we go from the sexual revolution of the 1960s to the permissive hookup culture of the ’00s to chastity and virtual companions in the 2020s?"}],[{"start":321.07,"text":"The latest survey of American relationships by the Kinsey Institute and dating app Match found that those aged 18 to 27 were more likely to describe themselves as intentionally celibate than any other age group. This probably has a lot to do with the decline of a classic rite of passage: less than 60 per cent of American Gen Z adults (aged 20 to 27) say they went on a date as a teenager, compared with 80 per cent of baby boomers."}],[{"start":355.71,"text":"With dating in decline, it makes sense that the age at which people have their first kiss and first relationship might be on the rise too. A study of 33 European countries published this year reported that in the eight years to 2018, the percentage of 15-year-olds who had lost their virginity had fallen from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. In Japan, a domestic survey found that only 23 per cent of middle-school boys had ever kissed someone, down from 45 per cent in 2005."}],[{"start":396.84999999999997,"text":"Being single is nothing new. Nor is it necessarily anything to fret over. People forming relationships with non-human objects is not an entirely original innovation either. In 2007 a woman named Erika LaBrie claimed she had married the Eiffel Tower. (A decade later she was reported to have moved on after growing bored.) But when you consider coming of age with easy access to online images of the most extreme, illicit human behaviour, it’s no surprise that more 20-somethings are choosing to turn away now."}],[{"start":440.13,"text":"Last month the UK introduced age-verification checks online in a rather late and panicked attempt to protect underage users. Australia and some US states have introduced similar restrictions. Google is planning to assess a user’s age via “signals”, such as the information they search for, and block access to certain apps if it believes someone is under 18. The experiment in unrestricted access is slowly coming to an end — a little too late for Gen Z’s love life."}],[{"start":477.17,"text":"Elaine Moore is tech comment editor at the Financial Times. Tim Harford is away"}],[{"start":484.46000000000004,"text":"Find out about our latest stories first — follow FT Weekend Magazine on X and FT Weekend on Instagram"}],[{"start":502.1,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftmailbox.cn/album/a_1755244331_4013.mp3"}