Credits: Social Media
I used Grindr for eight years, and Im never going back
Grindr might be the most popular dating app for gay and Queer people but I have not looked back since deleting it from my phone.
Coming in every shade, size, and function, dating apps are a firm staple in 2024. Tinder is only the tip of the dating app iceberg, and there are now countless options targeting specific niche groups, like Dungeons and Dragons fans.�
Grindr is popular with gay men
As a fledgling Queer teenager in a small town, my exposure to gay culture was limited to TV shows, the internet, and the occasional wild gay I would glimpse from a distance upon visiting a larger town. Of course, this made dating difficult.
Like many other LGBTQ youth, I created a dating app profile far before the mandatory age restriction of 18. If you think my age got in the way of starting conversations, you havent been on the internet long enough.
With its own language, Grindr was launched in 2009 by tech mogul Joel Simkhai, with over 500,000 users signing up by 2010. As of 2024, the number of monthly active users sits at 13.5 million.
With few other options, Grindr became, as Vanity Fair called it, the “world’s Biggest, Scariest Gay Bar” that worked through GPS locations, sorting users by proximity to you.
Another standout feature was Grindrs ability to sort you into neatly packaged tribes , which is largely just a buzz term used to describe specific groups of gay men like twinks, jocks, otters, bears, and cubs. Users can sort their feed by specific tribe, or display their tribe preferences in their profile.�
As you might expect, Grindr unwittingly created an online hookup culture where most of the users were seeking out casual relations.
With minimal safety features and an app full to the brim with potentially vulnerable people, you can see why the app has gathered so many critics over the years.
Goodbye Grindr�
While its important to acknowledge that no app or site is inherently negative, its simply a series of 0s and 1s, there is no denying the toxic culture that Grindr has become associated with.
After University and this little thing called life, I was able to understand just how much my early years on Grindr had affected me.
I was so used to men seeking a specific interaction that my own needs and wants became secondary. After 6 years on the site I had met countless men, and yet, been on zero dates.�
While those issues are now mine to fix alongside a very qualified therapist, the exploitation of LGBTQ+ youth on dating apps is still a very real issue.�
