Haven’t had sex in a while? A surprising new survey suggests the best solution might be to seek advice from your Uber driver. Match.com, which has conducted its seventh annual comprehensive study of singles living in the United States, found that many people discuss their love life with friends, family, and co-workers, but respondents who said they chat with their Uber driver had a 213 percent higher chance of having sex over the past year.
“At first, the obvious explanation is that those who are more open and outgoing are more likely to both talk about their love lives and have sex in the year,” Brett Beattie, a data scientist for Match, tells Inverse. “But if that explanation was correct, you would also see answer options like ‘bartender’ or ‘complete stranger’ being correlated with more sex — which we did not.”
The Match.com survey, released last week, collected results from 5,500 Americans that were not in a relationship. Recipients were asked about a variety of questions, including whether it’s okay to text someone on a date (66 percent said they didn’t like it), how best to evaluate someone on social media (39 percent say they judge based on grammar), and whether men have ever sent a dick pic (47 percent admitted to sending one).
Despite Uber helping its passengers find love, “Uber driver” didn’t even feature in the top five most popular sources of dating advice:
The Uber driver-passenger relationship seems a lot like the traditional cab driver, but there are some key differences. Both parties can see each other’s identification, you have to decide beforehand if you both agree to the journey, and you rate each other at the end. And fundamentally, you’re stepping into a stranger’s car to catch a ride, with all the novelty air fresheners and embarrassing music collections that come with the territory.
The whole thing feels a lot more personal, for better or for worse:
Perhaps it’s this more personal situation that some people need to properly confide. “It may just be that having the perspective of an impartial stranger that you can talk to for 10-20 minutes about your dating life is what you need to break a dry spell,” Beattie says.
Of course, it could always turn out to be a complete waste of time: 65 percent of respondents said they don’t find dating advice useful.
