12% of Moms Use Cellphone During Sex

A close up shot of a woman smiling as she interacts with her smartphone.
Think it's OK to use your cellphone in the bathroom? How about during sex? (Image credit: wavebreakmedia ltd | Shutterstock)

For millennial moms, there is no such thing as a too-private moment to use a cellphone, with a new survey finding 12 percent of this mommy demographic uses their smartphone during sex.

And 21 percent of the nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 mothers born between 1977 and 1994 said they bring their smartphones to the toilet, too.

"Today's moms are media omnivores," Carey Witmer, president of Meredith Parents Network, which released the survey, said in a statement. "Controlling their voracious diet is so important to them that they are constantly creating new rules about how and when media intermingles with their busy lives via their various devices, screens and networks."

Overall, the results revealed millennial moms are consumed, 24/7, by media no matter where they are or what they are doing.

Would you ever use your cellphone during sex?

And love may be too light a word for their relationship with their cellphones, the survey finds. Besides bringing them to the bathroom and "between the sheets," they average some 13 apps, with many moms saying less than half are for their kids. About 81 percent said shopping was the primary way they use their smartphone. [Moms Love Their Smartphones]

Some other highlights from the survey include:

  • Seventy-two percent of moms say they are frustrated by recent Facebook changes to its format and privacy policies.
  • Most moms (96 percent) say it's important to control who sees their personal information on Facebook.
  • Fort-four percent say they keep Facebook open on their computers all day, twice as many who said the same in 2010; And compared with 2010, when Mom had 151 Facebook friends on average, she now has 209.
  • Streaming television online is on the rise, with 23 percent of moms doing so now, compared with 16 percent in 2010.
  • Who needs commercials? Some 36 percent of moms said they watch programs on digital video recorders (DVR), and 84 percent said they avoid commercials when watching live television.

The "Moms & Media 2" survey was conducted online between Nov. 18 and Dec. 14, 2011 by Zeldis Research Associates. The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and further research is needed to confirm the media habits of mothers.

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Live Science Staff
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