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[Marcus Bourget]

I believe there's an app for your case of iPhone envy.

J/K - I agree that your dinner companions were exceptionally rude. there is a time and a place for everything.

but their behaviour aside, I think iPhone is a great device. Not only for Grindr but for a whole host of other apps which you can download - some of which are genuinely useful.

so you're mates were rude, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. the iPhone was an industry changing device - and you're going to be seeing more, not less, of the smartphone in the coming years.

[marky markywicz]

Wow,
What tragic people.
Interesting story Mr James.

[DougBear]

When you're in ANY kind of face to face situation with other people, phones OFF please - smart or otherwise. If you don't want to give your attention to the people you're with, why are you there? This is incredibly bad mannered of your so-called friends - ditch 'em for some people who appreciates you.

[Phazz]

The fact that people go out to socialize and are glued to their phones (myself included), whether it be Grindr, Manhunt, Gaydar, or even just facebook. It's plain rude and anti social.

The whole online hookup, grindr thing is really a bad thing for the community because people are less inclined to actually socialize in the true sense of the word and isolate themselves. People hide behind their computers and don't interact with others. Where is the fun in cruising someone when there is no art in doing so. It just all feels so clinical.

Excellent article James.

[atari]

On the point about it being inherently homophobic: my straight boss plays with grindr on my phone more than I do. In fact, I think she may have even been the one who introduced me to it. Oh, and I wouldn't describe myself as having ADD or sexually compulsive, either, just because I have grindr.

That aside, I agree that it's naff to constantly get it out in social contexts - in much the same way as I find it rude when folk constantly text other people or are preoccupied by other distractions, rather than being present with the people they are hanging out with.

[nickdisco]

Don't let this one go. Probably the best writer you have.

[crazzymikey]

lol so true couldn't agree with you more!

[kaypea2007]

As soon as I'm in company, I forget about my phone [unless expecting a business related phone call] I think it's extremely rude to pay it any attention at all. Hence, my phone is always on silent.

[JoshOnTheBus]

Grindr isn't to blame for the bad behaviour of two of your 'friends' - anyone that checks a phone for non-urgent calls/messages during a date, over a group meal, at the cinema or mid-important conversation with a friend/in a meeting at work is a douche. So let's let the gay Grindrz with Mannerz keep on keepin' on as not all iPhones are sold to hoe-mos.

[Travis de Jonk]

Twats exist across all technologies. I suggest either getting a better handle on the technology you have - to protect yourself from jerks... or simplify your techonology if you don't need all the bells and whistles.

[doodle_chaser]

I agree. This may rub people up the wrong way, but I think any phone use while in company, other then quick and discreet texts or calls (by quick and discreet I mean less then 20 seconds and not right in front of your face with your elbows on the table) is wrong and rude. I think the Facebook app is the worst culperate. It's turned people into anti-social drones. No phones in social situations people!

[Travis de Jonk]

Oh yeah... ditch the jerk 'friends' too.

[Flaneur]

It's not the iPhone and the addiction to it that you have a problem with, James, by the sounds of it, but the social networking addictions. It's really nothing new to the queer community, gaydar became a part of our lives in 1999 and there were queer forums and personals listings before that as well while myspace, for example, only hit the general population in 2004 or 2005 and facebook a few years after (with a growing hook up culture forming there as well to catch up with us).

We've got an entire generation that's done nothing but click buttons to find each other, setting in all of their discriminatory parameters to find just the right person that they think they want. They can start with mogenic before graduating to gaydar, grindr and manhunt (with a profile on myspace and facebook clearly showing orientation) in the search for the something, the someone that they want and in the process they become generation Z people born in a time of generation X and Y. Of course your friends don't fit, of course they're rude and boring, but in 10 years that's probably going to be fairly normal in the scheme of things (and the mobile culture in Japan seems to reinforce that notion). Of course, we're (me included, in fact I moaned about this today) probably going to be moaning about that just like every generation does about the social trends of the next generation.

[perkin]

I think Mr James Barrett is in the po-faced category and alas, when you are in the "have-not" set the "have" set seem to be...what were your words..."...attention-deficit disordered and sexually compulsive." Yes, that's right...I am. Thanks for confirming it.

I love my iPhone and like Marcus (#1) I believe it has changed life as we know it. But unlike Mr Barrett's assertion, I did NOT buy my iPhone because of Grindr. I had the phone for over three and a half months before I became aware of the application. I found it amusing at first, then slightly retarded (who talks in miles and feet in this country, really - we all stop at inches and then revert to metric) and the aforementioned battery sucking capabilities. I now notice it is speaking in metric, but still, it's hilarious to know someone is ZERO metres away when I am sitting in my living room at home! Also, I believe I am the oldest person on Grindr in this country! True! Every profile I have viewed on the odd occasion I have turned the app on in the past two months since I downloaded it has been part of the Gen Y and Gen X set. That also makes me laugh.

I find I use my iPhone less as a "phone" and more as a communication device with text, e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and websurfing with the occasional app getting a bit of attention (currently fond of OzWeather, when I was overseas in July to September it was XE Currency - watch that Aussie Dollar ZOOOM!)

Though, to end on a positive note - I agree that some basic manners need to be addressed here. Mr Barrett's dinner companions were terribly rude but perhaps they did not perceive it as such? It's as Flanuer (#14) says about generations and their addictions. Personally, I prefer it to be on vibrate or even OFF (yes, there is such a button) when I am in a social setting like a restaurant or coffee shop. I will answer a call once I have asked my companion(s) to allow me a moment to take the call or ignore it and let it go. Same for text. I certainly would not be Tweeting, FBing, e-mailing and definitely not Grindr-ing! The art of social interaction is in a bad way these days folks - time for some people to make a mint out of showing people how to do it! (Already on to it....)

And Xiphias-Gladius - thanks for allowing me to look at my iPhone once last night over coffee!!!

[TheOldie]

A phone caused a huge hissy fit the other night.

Standing aside checking the phone ( constantly ) when you're with others is fucking rude. I'm talking looking at it every 5 mins.

Once when one of the guys was doing it when we were out I grabbed it and shoved it in my pocket and only gave it back when we had finished dinner.

When I am meeting up with friends the second we are together its off and in the pocket.

[naughtylion]

I love my iPhone, and although I was never so fucked as to Grindr through a dinner (or whip out my laptop and start watching porn during desert, for that matter), I was still pretty glued to it up until about a fortnight ago. I have trouble defining if that was the iPhone's allure or if it was just that I had a new toy that I thought was pretty and liked to see it light up. I only just figured out the Facebook app about a week or two ago. Even still I've only used it a handful of times when bored - what I mean by that is I don't 'check'. Before that I was constantly just playing games to see what the phone could do, or yeah, bored at work laughing how many parramatta wog boys on grindr refer to themselves as a 'hot stunna'. It wasn't really about the social networking for me, which I'll admit is odd, as whenever on my home PC i've got facespace open. Certain apps could come in handy, but ultimately they're mostly little programs that flash and allow you to pass the time. I'm starting to realise now that it's just a phone, or a really crappy laptop. But when ur lying on the couch and need to know whats on tv and using the laptop on the coffee table would force you into a sitting up position, reaching for an iPhone is a pretty good bloody option.

[local_warming]

i dont have an iphone or was too clued up on how the application worked on grinder, but i was under the impression it was a bit more acurate distance wise than just mere miles in terms of location

[blueterrace]

The funniest part was they thought they were chatting to a "hatchet faced truck driver"

[local_warming]

Originally Posted by blueterrace

The funniest part was they thought they were chatting to a "hatchet faced truck driver"

wonder what that truck drivers wife thinks about her husband being refered to as hatchet faced

[naughtylion]

Originally Posted by local_warming

i dont have an iphone or was too clued up on how the application worked on grinder, but i was under the impression it was a bit more acurate distance wise than just mere miles in terms of location

It used to be in miles and feet until only recently. I went a couple months without opening it, then opened it the other day and it had all changed to metric. It is pretty inaccurate though... I've tested it with a few mates because not so much at work out woop woop, but at home in the city I always get guys mere metres away, but when messaging them they are a suburb over, or on the other side of the train tracks (at least 100M away). Not rubbishing it's efforts - I think it's more the GPS on the iPhone is a bit stupid. Depending on signal strength if you watch yourself move on google maps it goes a little haywire every now and then, and if grindr is getting its GPS snapshots every time your iphone is ready, it's not gonna be 100% accurate.

Fabulous idea - though not as hyped up as everyone makes out for it to be.

[local_warming]

Originally Posted by naughtylion

It used to be in miles and feet until only recently. I went a couple months without opening it, then opened it the other day and it had all changed to metric. It is pretty inaccurate though... I've tested it with a few mates because not so much at work out woop woop, but at home in the city I always get guys mere metres away, but when messaging them they are a suburb over, or on the other side of the train tracks (at least 100M away). Not rubbishing it's efforts - I think it's more the GPS on the iPhone is a bit stupid. Depending on signal strength if you watch yourself move on google maps it goes a little haywire every now and then, and if grindr is getting its GPS snapshots every time your iphone is ready, it's not gonna be 100% accurate.

Fabulous idea - though not as hyped up as everyone makes out for it to be.

i just cant imagine someone holding their iphone in front of them, waving it back and forth like a geiger counter trying to triangulate the exact location of a dude in a park that they might be chasing

[naughtylion]

Originally Posted by local_warming

i just cant imagine someone holding their iphone in front of them, waving it back and forth like a geiger counter trying to triangulate the exact location of a dude in a park that they might be chasing

hehe doesn't quite work like that.

when i first got it i thought you'd have it running in the background of your phone, so it'd be like some sort of a beacon. I got pumped coz I thought I'd be able to stand on my balcony and giggle at all the fags that walked by. my hopes were dashed, obviously, it's more like a manhunt that tells you upfront how much petty ur gonna use getting there.

[poolboy jackson]

petty = petrol?

[local_warming]

Originally Posted by naughtylion

hehe doesn't quite work like that.

when i first got it i thought you'd have it running in the background of your phone, so it'd be like some sort of a beacon. I got pumped coz I thought I'd be able to stand on my balcony and giggle at all the fags that walked by. my hopes were dashed, obviously, it's more like a manhunt that tells you upfront how much petty ur gonna use getting there.

in light of this new information, ive reconsidered my earlier decision to get an iphone

[timbo84]

See, I'm guilty as charged... not majorly obsessed with it, but I have been reaping the benefits of Grindr

But I totes agree that it's anti social... actually, hang on. I'm just getting a message. Can I get back to you with my thoughts?

[Flaneur]

Originally Posted by naughtylion

hehe doesn't quite work like that.

when i first got it i thought you'd have it running in the background of your phone, so it'd be like some sort of a beacon. I got pumped coz I thought I'd be able to stand on my balcony and giggle at all the fags that walked by. my hopes were dashed, obviously, it's more like a manhunt that tells you upfront how much petty ur gonna use getting there.

Mine is a mutant, it keeps running in the background when I press the button on the phone. A guy used it to stalk me in westfield. =/

[Spooky]

Oh what a dilemma! I hope your soufflé did not sink.

[ammonite]

Same Same Media Player

i've heard they were making a straight one and a lesbian one. do they exist yet?

[Flaneur]

Originally Posted by ammonite

i've heard they were making a straight one and a lesbian one. do they exist yet?

Why bother making a straight one? People could just knock on their next door neighbour's door.

[leverarchfile]

who would put up with that sort of behaviour from friends anyway?.....geesss...get a life or get some new ones