Most of us have experienced it before. You’re at a bar, but you’re really not feeling the crowd or the music. You turn to your phone and text away, seeing what the rest of your friends are doing that night, hoping to find a reprieve in a decent text conversation to replace the insanity occurring around you. That was me a week ago – bored out of my mind at a tragic bar surrounded by tragic people. So surprise, surprise, when I turn to a girlfriend of mine, and she was playing with an application on her iPhone called Grindr. For those who don’t know, Grindr is an iPhone app that can be downloaded and used to find the nearest person that has it. The app is geared toward gays and hooking up. I asked why on Earth would a girl choose to have this, and she replied that because she is ‘queen of the gays,’ she likes to be close to her subjects. I couldn’t help but laugh, and then help her mess with the really unfortunate people resorting to some app to get laid. Another friend made a Grindr for her dog, Coco, so she could troll around looking for gay men on it. This whole Grindr thing got me thinking – has the taboo been removed from Internet dating? With eHarmony, Match.com and all the other dating sites, this form of social interaction has seemingly become a huge component of dating life in the U.S. Years ago, people were forced to meet people at bars and at church, but now singles often find their way onto these Web sites looking for other singles. We’ve become media-centric as a society. I’d venture to guess the average American consumes more media in one day than our parents did in a week. It only makes sense that our dating lives have evolved as well. I mean, if I can buy plane tickets, tweet, play Words with Friends and order groceries all from the comfort of my iPhone, then I guess it shouldn’t be a huge jump for people who are basically ordering up a hookup on there as well. I don’t know if I could’ ‘ ‘ ‘ personally ever join such a movement, but the entertainment value of such a tool is quite high. For better or worse, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are replacing much of our normal day-to-day interactions. I mean, our relationships aren’t even official until Facebook says they are. The ease with which we use these types of media in place of face-to-face contact often makes people socially awkward. Personal interaction and people skills are essential traits, and the time spent on Facebook, Twitter, Grindr and other mediums often allows people to escape developing these traits further. Maybe there wouldn’t be such a demand for such sites if we as a society could put the social media away and start meeting people. On the other hand, if I had put down my phone and picked up a drink, maybe I could’ve enjoyed the bar a little more. Stephen Schmitz is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_schmitz. —- Contact Stephen Schmitz at [email protected]