Majority of Grindr users think personality is more important than ever
Grindr. (LightRocket via Getty/ SOPA/ Rafael Henrique)
A partner’s personality has become more important to the majority of Grindr users since the beginning of the pandemic, a new survey has found.
Grindr asked 10,000 app users in the US, the UK, Mexico, Brazil, and India how COVID-19 has affected their love and sex lives, and “how their behaviours and expectations have changed since the pandemic’s onset”.
According to the survey: “Despite all the loneliness of a year spent in isolation, romance isn’t dead.
“The Grindr community appears to be using this time to dig deeper into their core values: what they want from a partner, what their comfort zone looks like in a changed world, and how to stay healthy – physically, sexually, and emotionally.”
More than two thirds (67 per cent) of Grindr users said that personality is more important to them than it was before the pandemic, and 58 per cent are more interested in a long term relationship.
The app found that although use of audio and video chat has increased while users are stuck at home, text chat has still remained the most popular, and 60 per cent said they had used the time to speak to people they wouldn’t usually chat with. Forty-six per cent also said that COVID was a great conversation-starter.
The pandemic has also created a “kinder Grindr”, with 86 per cent of users reporting a greater focus on caring for their own mental health, and 83 per cent making efforts to be “more supportive and understanding of others” on the app.
So far, so wholesome, but many Grindr users are still willing to take risks for sex – almost a third (31 per cent) admitted to still hooking up while wearing masks.
Luckily most are waiting it out, and after the pandemic is over 63 per cent saying they’ll be making up for lost time and hooking up more than usual.
Grindr noted: “Love has always been complicated, especially for the queer community.
“On top of the inherent challenges of being queer in a straight world, the COVID-19 pandemic has added some new hurdles to the sex and dating landscape, cutting us off from one another and from our hard-earned traditions and safe spaces.
“Nevertheless, the queer community has done what it’s always done when faced with a challenge: adapted, evolved, and grown stronger.”
