It’s the age-old question: Have hookup apps killed gay dating culture?
According to Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai, the answer is still no. They haven’t. In fact, they’ve enhanced it.
While speaking before a group of club goers in Hong Kong, Simkhai, who recently sold 60% of the company to a Chinese gaming giant for $93 million, explained why he rejects the theory that his app is damaging our ability to engage in meaningful social interaction.
Related: Grindr Goes Down; Twitter Frenzy Ensues
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“Even before Grindr, I think, sometimes you wouldn’t go out,” Simkhai said. “But today if you go to any gay bar or club, you’ll see many people are using Grindr.”
He added that people are “still socializing” in bars and clubs “very well,” and that for many people it gives them confidence to strike up conversation with people they otherwise may have been too shy to approach.
And as for all those studies linking an increase in STDs to hookup apps, as well as all those reports you hear about people being robbed, beaten, tortured and even murdered by people they met online, Simkhai says that all boils down to personal responsibility.
Related: See Guys React To Ridiculously Racist Grindr Profiles
“At the end of the day, Grindr is an app that shows the guys around you and you can meet them,” he explained. “We make it very easy to meet people nearby.”
He continued: “Some of them do hook up, yet some of them become friends, boyfriends and even roommates–and that’s just the natural way of life. You meet someone and many different things can happen. It’s about all kind of experiences and I’m very comfortable with it.”
What do you think? Do you agree with Simkhai, or are Grindr and other dating apps having a negative impact on gay culture? Sound off in the comments section below.
Ricco Galmore
Its not killing it, but its not entirely helping it lol.
BriBri
I’m far too old to use Grindr now days but my observation is that Grindr is solely for sex hookups. I would have loved Grindr in the 80’s!!
Donald MacMelville
That’s some in-depth reporting there.
Stache
@BriBri: When I was growing up in the 80’s I thought i was the only gay boy around in my small town. I went home for Christmas last year and logged onto Grindr out of curiosity and OMG the gays were all around me. That would’ve changed my life very early on if that technology had existed then.
The only thing it’s taken from is the bars/clubs and sex clubs. However, was it really that great to begin with? Getting loaded up with alcohol/drugs to meet people you never remembered the next day anyways?
JerseyMike
The only thing these sites have done is took hooking up out of the bathhouse, the bookstore and the parks. Dating culture isn’t dead. If someone wants to date they can find like minded people at social events. People are meeting online to date. Nothing wrong with that at all. We have to change with the times. I think online dating has improved dating. It gives you an opportunity to meet people you might not otherwise meet. What bar can you go to where you meet so many different people.
Mark Johnson
Grindr suxs!!!!
Justin Trimmer
To say it’s killing he Gay dating culture implies there has been one.
Aaron Shouse
i don’t care either way i dont get hit on in the club or grindr so its whatever
Creed Crutchfield
Ive been out a long time. I was far less single in the past than right now. It’s easy to have sex or get a hookup, it is not easy to find someone that wants more than 2 hours, or less, Of your time.
Facebook has not helped either, because before there were open chat systems like AOL, yahoo and Gay.Com
People want to be single and, I can only assume, fart in their house anytime they want without worry…
I have no other explanation.
enfilmigult
Question from someone who doesn’t use Grindr: sometimes in a bar I’ll see a guy look at me for a second with apparent interest, then immediately whip out his phone and start thumbing through it. Is it a common thing to try to find someone’s Grindr profile instead of walking over and talking to them, or am I imagining that’s what’s happening?
dean089
What “gay dating culture?” Meeting a guy at a bar and going home with him, or taking him home, is not “dating.” All Grindr is doing is eliminating the need to buy drinks.
AtticusBennett
the bigger reality is this – life is expensive. to work and LIVE “downtown” is extraordinarily expensive. account-draining expensive. factor into this the reality that Gayborhoods become “hip” over time, non-gay yuppies move in, rents go up, gay business fold and non-gay businesses come in, and young gay folks can no longer afford to move into Gayborhoods. so what happens? a Queering of another previously-undesirable ‘hood (cheaper rents and dive bars). we go there, a newer quasi-village pops up, and the whole thing repeats.
i’ve lived in london, toronto, manhattan, brooklyn, and that very thing has happened, and is still happening, in all of those places. we gays make a place safe and fun and vibrant, other folks come into enjoy it, prices go up.
over and over again. the app has less to do with this than the reality that many young folks simply can’t afford to live and work in a big city and have enough money left to pay to travel to the gayborhoods and buy drinks.
Scott Redner
is? try HAS, it’s the way of the world now, instant everything, no commitment, no restrictions, no responsibilities, change with it or be left in the dust…
austinwondo
He is wrong. Grindr is awful.
Frankie Trice
It seems to be more exposing the antigay closet cases. Keep up the good work!!
bearbottom
Not killing it. Still just the same snotty attitude from those who think they are superior. Especially when you’re chatting and you send a face pic, they will block you, ignore you, and pretend they never chatted with you. Same on Scruff, because so many guys have the same profile on both. I’m not the Elephant Man, and I’m not the hottest hunk, so guys when you have found the perfect guy, he’ll block you, too.
ChuckF
I’ve been around long enough to have heard this argument about every new technological advance. At first for me to finding men who liked the kind of sex I liked I had to rely on a mimeographed journal before the days of email. Gay men by and large love sex and where there is a will there will always be a way. Grindr is just the next step from online profiles and porn software. Some men will take advantage of it and some won’t but if you can’t find a boyfriend don’t blame the technology.
JerseyMike
@ChuckF: Well said..
Idunno
Grindr disgusts me. so do text messages, e-mails, apps, and everything that goes with it. What happened to people actually communicating in person. Remember actually talking on the phone and just answering it not knowing who it was? People used to meet other gay men just fine before Grindr, and all the other hookup websites. Want to know what we did….warning….its radical…..WE LEFT THE HOUSE AND MET THEM IN PERSON. Before the Internet destroyed dating for gay and straight people, everyone did just fine dating, and getting married. Now, everybody sits at home with a device that has a year old pic of them, their “junk” hanging out, ass spread open, or whatever. And we wonder why we can’t find a date? We wonder where social anxiety comes from? We certainly didn’t hear about social anxiety when I was 20. You didn’t have a choice. If you wanted something, or someone, you had no choice but to leave your comfy home and go get it. Now, everyone has social anxiety because they can’t bear to leave that precious laptop, notebook, cell phone at home, and go do what you need to. Everyone hides behind these devices. I say shut down everything on the internet. If the library can cut you off from porn, dating websites, etc. then the government can too. Grindr definately isint to blame, but they certainly don’t help in the gay community if you want a friend. It’s not going to happen. If tried it, and not 1 single person wants anything except sex…….needless to say I no longer use the app, and have decided to become celibate
sdsinmpls
I’m in my early 50s and very average. I get zero attention the “social” apps–even when I do contact someone online. On the very rare occasion I go to a gay bar I see most guys’ faces are glowing blue because they are staring at there phones not interacting with those around them. In my opinion, Social apps have killed gay dating.
TVC 15
How about laptops and coffee shops? Same thing. People actually used to go and socialize at coffee shops. Now all you see is rows of laptops.
notevenwrong
Personal interaction is preferable to most people, including young people, but bars, clubs, bathhouses, and gay vacation places like Ptown are EXPENSIVE. The death of the middle class in the U.S. is as much to blame for the demise of gay public spaces as apps.
spemat
in my area bi and gay people are mostly not mixed orientation relationship oriented but the grindr bi guys are shunned and mocked etc and nobody will mess with them because to us, they represent what the world stereotypes us as. 4 are married and we don’t talk to them. Gay men are always in drama with them. His ex tried getting us to “get them off that” and we sent her breeder ass the other way. Drama queen… 2 are paying out the ass in alimony… no wonder the hetero dudes want bi women.
surreal33
Grinder is not killing gay dating culture. The complete inability of gay men to talk to each other is killing gay dating culture. We seriously need to take a page from lesbians and communicate, love and support one another. Instead of the bullshit that passes for gay culture now.