Do smartphone apps facilitating easy meetups for casual sex with near-strangers increase risky sexual behavior? For most people, the answer might be "probably." For the federal government, though, the answer is, "Let's spend nearly half a million dollars to find out."
An NIH grant of $432,000 awarded to Columbia University funded a study to this effect last year. Researchers interviewed gay men who use hookup apps like Grindr, which use geolocating to help users find potential sexual partners nearby. Unsurprisingly, the study found that these apps do lead users to more — and riskier — hookups.
Good thing that's cleared up.
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