LoveSync

Submission 17,558

About

LoveSync is a product intended for couples as a means of letting each other know the other is interested in having sex without conversation. One member of the couple will press a button which registers that they're interested in having sex. If the other partner presses their button within a set time frame, both buttons will display a green ring, letting both partners know they're interested in sex. The product, in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign, was heavily mocked by Twitter users and the media for being an over-complicated solution to what seems like a simple problem.

History

LoveSync was created by Ryan and Jenn Cmich of Cleveland, Ohio.^[1] Ryan, a consumer robotics engineer, wrote he had the idea while lying in bed hoping his wife Jenn, a manager at a marriage and family counseling practice, would initiate sex. The pair collaborated on Lovesync as a means to combat fear of rejection of one's sexual advances, which they believe contributes to a decline in intimacy in long-term couples over a long period of time. The Kickstarter for Lovesync was created on February 10th, 2019.

In an explainer video, a pair of actors introduces the features of LoveSync, which include the ability to set different windows of time for sexual interest and the ability to cancel one's expressed desire. As of February 12th, 2019, the campaign has raised over $3,700 of its $7,500 funding goal.

Online Reaction

The campaign was mocked heavily online after it was discovered by Twitter users. It began seeing mockery after it was noticed by Verge reporter Julia Alexander,^[2] whose tweet about it gained over 180 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left). Other Twitter users, like Buzzfeed reporter Ryan Broderick, mocked the scientific approach to the supposed problem (shown below, right).

Several points of the Kickstarter were mocked more specifically. One such point was the LoveSync sexual interest chart which displayed where on an "interest spectrum" LoveSync would be useful (shown below).

The chart was mocked by Broderick as an Alignment Chart, later tagging himself as "Where sex happens today."^[3] Another aspect mocked by users was the LoveSync feature to cancel interest, specifically the phrase "Desire may be cancelled using a 4 second button hold." Many Twitter users joked about the phrase out of context. User @DaveMilbo joked about it, gaining over 65 likes (shown below, right).

The product was mocked by multiple media outlets, including Daily Dot,^[4] The Verge,^[5] and Mashable.^[6]