Why technology is the future of sex

One of the great supposed truisms of the 21st century is that technology is bad for our sex lives.

But there are a growing number of contrary tech entrepreneurs who believe that we'll soon all be having better sex than ever, thanks largely to advances in wearable technology. And we won't even need to be in the same room, town or time zone as our partners.

What began with sexting and sex-selfies could soon be a fully immersive experience, if software companies such as Florida-based FriXion have their wicked way.

Their sexual social network controls sex toys remotely. It accesses toys' existing technology (machine feedback, pressure sensors, clench and ripple attachments, vibration motors) to give a simulated version of intimate acts from a distance.

The founder (known only as Seth) claims the technology can "honestly, no joke, change the world. It feels like the act of sex.

"While you're thrusting, I'm being penetrated. You're pushing back. I'm feeling the resistance." he told the Daily Mail.

And if that doesn't get you jumping straight into a cold shower, check this out: Frixion should soon be hosting live mass cyber sessions, with one ringmaster controlling thousands of people's devices with his or her movements. You could soon be having pseudo-sex with a porn star.

Google Glass it ain't. But Google's optical head-mounted device has implications for your sex life, too, in the form of Glance, an app that allows users to experience sex from their partner's point of view. Yep, you'll soon be able to watch yourself having sex, in real time. And you thought a "selfie stick" was bad.

Hardware company Ravijour has deployed wearable sex tech for it's True Love Tester. Touted as "a revolutionary bra that knows how women truly feel", the garment is fitted with a device that registers heart rate and sends it via Bluetooth to an app that calculates to what degree your pulse races when you spot a certain someone.

When your pulse leads the device to declare you sufficiently loved-up, the bra pops open (because nothing inspires "true love" in a potential partner like an incapacitated underwire).

At the more exoteric end of the spectrum is the G-spot and clitoral-focused Dua toy from Je Joue. It comes with a discreet ballpoint pen-shaped remote and an app to give your other half long-distance control over what your device is doing to you.

Je Joue MD Will Ranscombe explains: "We wanted to break away from the stereotype of sex toys for singletons by developing a toy that encouraged partner play. The obvious route was a toy controlled by your partner, allowing you to completely let go."

So what would he say to the argument that these days we pay more attention to our devices than our partners anyway, and this sort of playing with wearable tech will increase our propensity to substitute technology for tangible intimacy?

"The app is just a facilitator for encouraging interaction between couples," Ranscombe says. "It's so simple to use, with swiping up and down and left and right to control, you need not even look at your iPhone while you're using it, you can focus purely on your partner and their reaction."

There's a historical precedence for all this, too. Sex has always been a driver of technological innovation, from VHS players and camcorders to home answering machines (prostitutes were early adopters in the 1950s, argues historian David Morton).

Ranscombe is in no doubt that we'll continue to see a slew of technologies that connect people sexually and remotely.

"You should see the weird and wacky ideas that are pitched to us involving cameras, vibrators, lasers and robots," he says. "But for us it has been, and always will be, about you and your partner sharing intimacy."