There are a lot of things that have contributed to the emergence of the hookup culture and caused today’s generation to move away from dating and toward random rendezvous. One reason, which can be an essential hookup tool, is technology.

Think about it – before cell phones, pagers, beepers and online instant messaging, people couldn’t instantaneously contact someone for a make-out meeting. Without modern technology, there would be no booty call. Or, at least not how today’s generation knows it.

There would be no post-party text messages or the typical “just call me on your way home.”

Convenience, however, only tells part of the story. With less face-to-face time, technology can make for easier forms of flirting. Junior Marcia LoMonacio said, “you can be less inhibited” when communicating using instant messaging, text messages and even a cell phone.

Junior Daniel Balke agrees, “(IM, text messaging, etc.) allows you to be more forward, it makes you more comfortable.”

Technology might aid the hookup culture, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that young people are being more promiscuous because of it.

The Center for Disease Control reported that 68 percent of 18 and 19-year-olds were sexually active in 1995, when having cell phones and instant messaging was less common. In 2002, that number stayed relatively the same at 69 percent.

-Ben Falk