The influence of Game of Thrones on society at large is undeniable—just ask your favorite Nevada brothel. Pretty soon, everyone will be faking their own death because it's the cool, hip thing to do or whatever. But at least one prominent intellectual sees a different side of the Thrones effect: sheer sexlessness.
Professor David Spiegelhalter, a statistician at Cambridge University, revealed during this year's Hay Festival that UK couples are having 40 percent less sex than they did just 20 years ago. "People are having less sex," Spiegelhalter said, according to the Telegraph. "Sexually active couples between 16 and 64 were asked and the median was five times in the last month in 1990, then four times in 2000 and three times in 2010."
Infinite bummer. But how infinite? If that rate holds, couples will be having approximately no sex whatsoever by 2030. Much of the blame, Spiegelhalter argues, can be placed squarely on the rise of streaming content, particularly the binge-worthiness of Game of Thrones.
"One of the researchers mentioned the word iPad," the presumably enthusiastic deliverer of bad news said. "I think it's the box set, Netflix. 'OMG I've got to watch the entire second series of Game of Thrones!'" Our current dedication to what Spiegelhalter calls "massive connectivity," i.e. the very thing in which you're engaging right now as you read this article, also isn't helping: "Now people are having less sex."
Want to have sex tonight? Maybe give Thrones a rest.
