> It does not contradict my suggestion that younger people are choosing to have less sex.
People make choices based on their situation. Their situation leads them to choose less sex. You're proving my point.
> Nor does it disprove the theory that the availability of alternatives to in-person sex has made it less attractive.
I don't buy this theory. Masturbation always felt good, and I doubt if you put the option of easy sex next to masturbating most would choose the easy sex. The problem is that easy sex is hard to find. Partners have less time and have more pressures now than in prior times - thus reducing opportunities and reducing overall sex. It isn't just young people having less sex:
> From 2000 to 2002, 71 percent and 69 percent of married men and women, respectively, reported having sex weekly. In 2016 to 2018, that dropped to 58 and 61 percent of married men and women, respectively, having weekly sex.
Even married men and women are having less sex.
Options like pornography aren't people's first choice. They'd probably choose sex if all things were equal. Just like you'd rather choose a steak over chicken tenders - but if you can't get the steak, and it's too hard to get the steak, you settle for the chicken tenders, and here we are.