“SO, IS this the part where you send me a naughty picture or will we say goodbye?” If there’s one thing to be said about Irish users of Blendr, it’s that they drive a hard bargain. “Well,” I counter. “If those are my options, I’ll say goodbye.” Carl – if that is his real name – doesn’t hang around to elaborate and I have spectacularly struck out on my first day using the app.
Blendr is a new location-based dating app, recently profiled on these pages. All you have to do is pick a username – you can add a photo and some personal information if you like, but it’s not compulsory – and you can instantly see what other users are nearby. You can then converse online and, if you are so minded, “hook up”. It is a “straight” sister to Grindr, an app with the same concept, but aimed at the gay community.
Early adopters of the service seem to be mostly male, in their late 20s or early 30s and highly suspicious of sharing personal information – despite the fact that they’re using an app whose very functionality is based on pinpointing your location.
It’s both disturbing and entertaining. While Brian, 1.2km away (and closing), asks if he can come over to “hook up”, I amuse myself by reminding another user, 400m from my house, not to forget to put out the recycling. “Thanks!” he says. And then: “That’s a bit creepy, isn’t it?” Yes, it really, really is.
The ease and speed with which one can create a profile on Blendr means users drop in and out like employees at your local supermarket. While “regular” dating sites require a fee – which ensures users are at least somewhat serious about their quest, whatever it may be – on Blendr it would seem a lot of users are merely curious or looking to “have some innocent fun”, as one 38-year-old who describes himself as “bearish” and “married” tells me.
There are some gems: Anthony can spell quite complicated words and doesn’t once resort to text speak, although his curiosity about my job, which I have described as “advertising”, means that, having ensnared myself in a web of self-penned lies, I quickly stop replying. (It’s not you, Anthony, it’s me.) Another has a gorgeous smile and, again, gets top marks for spelling, but midway through our conversation he tells me another woman has sent him a naked photograph, and I suspect his ensuing lack of interest may be entirely her fault.
For people who are genuinely interested in dating someone in their area with similar interests (I list mine as “science fiction” and “computers” for some inexplicable reason and my search results are remarkably unsatisfactory), it will be a tough slog to get past the “naughty” pictures and married bears. Even then, of those who go to the effort of listing what they’re looking for, “relationship” is one word conspicuous by its absence.–
