Canadian college students may be having more sex than SF State students, but they are touching their computer keyboards more than their partners.

CampusKiss.com, a Canadian online dating community for students, commissioned a survey last month of roughly 2,500 university and college students from more than 150 campuses across Canada. The results show that 87 percent of them admit to having sex using an instant messenger, web cam or the telephone, according to the survey.

SF State students may have better things to do with their online time, or are not admitting their online sex practices as readily as the Canadian students are. Of the 250 SF State students who participated in a [X]press poll, only 45 percent admitted to having sex through instant messages, web cams or the phone.

“I think it’s wonderful and great to hear that young people are enjoying themselves and their bodies,” said Dr. Christopher Carrington, associate professor of sociology and graduate director of the human sexuality studies program. “New technologies often entail new opportunities for sexual liaisons and experiences. Internet sex looks completely innocuous and perhaps, if we are lucky, a potentially liberating phenomenon.”

The term “cybersex” seems to have disappeared with the unmistakable sounds of the early days of America Online (AOL) dial-up.

Sara Gerstel, 19, sophomore theater arts major, has never “gone down that road to masturbation,” but remembers when the AOL era of having cybersex in chat rooms was new.

“I used to get a lot of those messages starting with ‘a/s/l?’(age/sex/location?), which is just code for ‘I’m alone, horny, and desperate and I’d like your help to successfully pleasure myself tonight,’” said Gerstel. “But I haven’t heard much more about it since.”

Online communities like, MySpace, are other outlets for people to get down digitally.

Kat Gibbons, 27, senior theater student, has not participated in any technology-assisted sex, but was recently propositioned by a MySpace stranger. After receiving a friend request from a guy, Gibbons checked out his page and said she thought he was normal enough.

“We started chatting and he asked me where I lived and then said ‘I’m horny.’ I said ‘Well, good luck with that’ and deleted him,” said Gibbons.

Engaging in virtual sex can be considered a safe sex option as long as it stays on the phone or Internet.

“Meeting up can be unsafe,” said Elsa Pena, director of Educational Referral Organization for Sexuality (EROS). “(We) stress the importance of not disclosing any personal identifiers online such as name and location.”

Of those surveyed in Canada, 53 percent of students had sex over instant messenger, while 44 percent preferred using a web cam or the phone. However, the SF State students who were polled preferred phone sex to the instant messenger.

Shakti Howeth, 21, junior theater arts major has had phone sex with her boyfriend.

“It’s an OK substitute for when you can’t do it in real life,” Howeth said.

Being unable to have sex in real life is definitely a factor for those who have engaged in virtual sex on the phone or online. For the many students dealing with long distance relationships, virtual sex can be a handy way to keep the sexual spark glowing through the light of their computer screens.

Caleb Sutter, 29, cinema arts major, is now married but there was a time when he and his wife were dating and phone sex bridged the geographical gap between their California and Middle East long-distance relationship.

“We don’t do it anymore, but it was good for that time,” said Sutter.

Sex in person appears to be preferred by all of the surveyed SF State students. Those who occasionally engage in virtual sex for fun, or do it to maintain a long-distance relationship, still prefer the real life option along with those who have never tried it.

Mich Ganzerla, 18, freshman psychology major, has never tried it and has no intention to any time soon.

“It seems like it would be awkward and feel fake. It’s not real life. You should just do it in person when you can,” said Ganzerla.

However, not all students are completely closed to it. Michael Rodriguez, 23 senior cinema arts major, looks at it as missed opportunity.

“Unfortunately, I have not had Internet, phone, or web cam sex. But, I am always on the look out for new experiences,” said Rodriguez.