Episode 5: SexTech, Sexting, and Dick Pics in the Time of COVID-19

Lockdowns and “social distancing” guidelines are changing our intimate lives in major ways. For example, one of the things we’re seeing in our own research is that people are increasingly turning to sextech, such as by engaging in more sexting and cybersex. In fact, many adults are reporting trying these things for the very first time. In order to explore the various ways that people are leveraging sextech right now, I spoke to two experts in this area: Dr. Erin Watson and Tasha Falconer. In this episode of the podcast, we tackle a wide range of topics, including: How are people’s sex lives different in this era of social distancing, and how is sextech helping us to cope? If you’re new to sexting, what do you need to know to feel more comfortable and confident? How can sexting and sextech help us to learn more about ourselves? A lot of people are worried that the more sextech we incorporate in our lives, the more disconnected we’ll become from each other—but is that necessarily the case? How can sextech help to connect us at an even deeper level? More people are sending nudes right now, so we also talk about the psychology of dick pics: Why do so many men send them unsolicited? How is this behavior different for gay vs. straight men? And what do guys need to know if they’re thinking about sending photos of their genitals to others to ensure it’s done in a consensual and ethical way? How can we build better sex and dating apps? *** Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram. Listen and stream all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Amazon. Subscribe to automatically receive new episodes and please rate and review the podcast! Credits: LEGIT Audio (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos and book covers used with guest permission.