rant · moment 9 of 15

Craigslist Hookups vs. Modern Gay Dating Apps

from You Can't Have Everything · #50

Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.

3 min

Tim recounts his closeted years meeting strangers off Craigslist for risky hookups in Brooklyn motels, contrasting it with today's app-based, safer gay dating culture for younger people.

In this bit10 moments
  • 30:42Tim describes new online culture as something he doesn't connect to and that scares him.
  • 30:59The pile-on culture where people want to rip each other to shreds online exemplifies what bothers him.
  • 31:26People making funny points online and chasing likes represent a culture Tim rejects.
  • 31:40Twitter is the worst offender because you're just retweeting someone else's opinion as your own.
  • 31:56Twitter discourages contemplative, deep thought in favor of instantaneous reactions.
  • 32:11Commenting on someone else's post brings everyone down to a level where people are just in the mud together.
  • 32:31Comics Tim respects tweet garbage jokes at Trump about Cubans and margaritas, reducing discourse to virtue signaling.
  • 32:53Signaling your virtue by proving you're a good person every five seconds with outrage tweets.
  • 33:15Many cases people amplify online are legitimate miscarriages of justice, but the scale of engagement feels performative.
  • 33:32Social media activism isn't moving the meter in any significant way despite everyone's performative outrage.
Mentioned here

TwitterEliza Shlesingersocial media activismonline culture

All 15 moments in this episode →