[Technicolor Musings] Wrapping Up Social Connections

So when  I ended my ASA Family relationship last July, I had initially sworn that I would not return to the LGBT online social media scene given how notorious it is for blind hook-ups and things of that nature. Eventually I reneged on that promise and started my own experiments in the LGBT social media scene, especially since I initially felt like I wasn't making any real "progress" as a single gay man. And while I didn't exactly meet too many people during my explorations, I did find some decent material to write about here and there based on my experiences.

And like many other gay men before me, I think the time has come to start wrapping up this particular social media experiment. While the apps do provide some degree of entertainment from time to time, in the end the quality of the interactions are highly suspect. And in the end it has been more of a hassle than a source of genuine human interaction.

To be fair, maybe I'm just not the target market for services like this. I don't like having sex with strangers at the drop of a hat and I prefer to get to know a person a bit more online before agreeing to meet in person. Traits like these and even just being the type who actually wants to have conversations with other people seem to be undesirable behaviors in sites like these. There it's all about negotiating a hook-up in the shortest possible time and going from there.

At the end of the day, being single is a lot more than just a lot of meaningless stress with strangers and if that is where you primarily gain solace or even just somehow define your personality around a concept then I do most honestly worry for you. I don't see what there is to be gained by "playing" around in such an environment. Plus all the shallow mediocrity can really get to you over time until you start to change as well without you realizing it.

I'm still single, yes. But I know I don't exactly "need" apps like Grindr and Growlr to find a great guy. We all have a decent enough shot out there - it's just a question of whether or not we're brave enough to take that first step.