Alton Thompson, Contributing Writer

With just the click of a button you can have access to anyone in the world. It’s a blessing and a curse. In the gay community this is an awesome development. Instead of sitting around various locations eye banging someone until they acknowledge and justify your unspoken “are you gay?”  you can now just log on and see for yourself.

Social media like Grindr, Scruff, and Tinder are real life gay detectors. It’s good to know we aren’t alone in our community, but let’s talk about what’s really wrong with gay social media.

It can be argued that there are various things wrong with our generation and how we use social media as opposed to actually going out and meeting people. It was hard enough as it was before to meet other gay people. Never really knowing who is – and who isn’t  – was and is – an annoying waste of time. And how do we use it? As a GPS to whore yourself around.

Everywhere you look on these apps are young men who increasingly getting younger, even faking their age to solicit a quickie. Depressing older men who unfortunately weren’t given the opportunity to be born in such a progressive time target these same young men. I started using these website to meet other people like myself and maybe find someone who I could connect with. But after a while, these sites mold you into something you’re not because all you know is a hook up.

My question is, where is the substance? What is the point in having this awesome gaydar if nothing comes from it? It feels like I’m drowning in a sea of shirtless torsos, ugly dick pics, and unwanted offers of sex from weird guys. Call me old fashioned but what happened to the chase, the thrill — the actual emotion?

If no one is going to use these apps to actually meet worthwhile people what’s the point? We may as well go back in time to just awkwardly figuring out who is gay. Let’s be honest: when people would rather hide behind their phones and send dirty pictures than have a real conversation, have we really come that far?