Arthur Brooks: Why Are Young People Choosing OnlyFans over Love?
February 16, 2026
With Valentine’s Day this past Saturday, romance is in the air. Well, perhaps for some people. In case you haven’t seen it, there’s a new study that’s been making waves online over the past few days. Americans, it found, now spend more on the subscription-based pornography platform OnlyFans than they do on The New York Times and ChatGPT—combined.
It’s a dispiriting statistic, and one that encapsulates so many things going wrong in American society: People are spending more time alone and depressed, and are increasingly addicted to porn. The ubiquity of the internet has exacerbated many of these trends, as young people abandon the ups and downs of real life for the anonymity and instant gratification offered by a screen.
