Yes, apps like Tinder have changed the way we hook up, but Craigslist?
I go on there to get a new lawnmower not to get lawnmowed… you know what I mean?
Okay people, this online dating thing is getting out of control.
We've got apps for everything and now people are taking to Craigslist to hook up too.
Don't you start thinking this is beyond the purview of science…
Science LOVES to study sex and trends.
Who doesn't?
Researchers from University of Minnesota wondered if Craigslist has changed sexual behavior
in the United States, and according to their results, reported HIV cases increased 15.9
percent after they broke on the scene.
That's new 6,000 HIV cases in the States every year…
This is especially heavy considering the non-news of New Yorkers flocking to Craigslist looking
to get boo-ed up during the recent snowstorms.
Wear condoms, everybody.
Social media facilitating sexy-fun-time isn't exactly surprising news.
Another study published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections looked at Los Angeleno
men who used social apps like Grindr to find a hookup; versus those who met in-person or
in a combination of in-person and a website.
Those using an app for a hookup were 25 percent more likely to be infected with gonorrhea,
and 37 percent more likely to get chlamydia!
Side note: in 2011, the CDC said though syphilis infection is decreasing in straight men and
women, it’s on the rise with gay men -- though they don't speculate as to its connection
with social apps; it's possible!
In the era of on-demand internet sex education and the universal availability of condoms
it's pretty surprising that curable bacterial infections are on the rise.
The internet is obviously changing how we meet partners, but the news isn't all bad.
A 2009 study looked at using the internet to find an escort or prostitute…
also something people use Craigslist for… and when they surveyed these online sex workers
they found workers who "solicit online engage in lower risk behavior than street-based workers."
In Boston, healthcare officials are working on apps for the youths to facilitate sexual
education, and a study from UCLA and USC found that most people on Grindr used the internet
to look for safe-sex information!
Social media and apps can be a force for education.
A 2013 study of Latino and African-American men found participants who used a private
HIV prevention Facebook group were 11 times more likely to request a testing kit than
those in a public health group, and even the researchers from the Craigslist study, which
prompted us to do this story, say "Health care practitioners and policymakers have to
look more closely at online platforms to assess how its usage may facilitate the spread of
HIV and STDs across the country."
Safe sex is important regardless of HOW you meet your partner.
If you're looking for info on safe sex you can always ask us on DNews, or go check out
my friend Laci Green's channel.
She's fantastically fantastic.
What do you think?
Do you feel like Tinder and Grindr and online hook-up apps are making it gross out there?
Or better?