Channel 4 News yesterday ran a report on how dating apps are changing encounters between singles, focussing on the impact of apps like Grindr on the gay community.
It calls these apps “instant, addictive, framed for the consumer” and the report looks at how the template for the location-based hookup app was birthed amongst the gay community.
This is no surprise – as writer Nayla Ziadeh says, these apps “help facilitate the social lives of those whose sexuality exists outside of the mainstream.”
What was a surprise for some within the gay community, such as Dylan Jones, is that apps like Tinder could catch on in the same way for straight singles.
He said: “[Dating] has definitely changed for gay men but it’s changed for straight people too with the internet.
“Ten years ago dating websites were considered a bit sad and a bit pathetic and you only went on there if you couldn’t find a boyfriend, but now all my female friends and male straight friends, 90 per cent are on Plenty of Fish or Tinder.”
Watch the report below: