Wanna Skex. ” The message comes up on my screen on Grindr. Initially I think it’s a typo. “We can’t have sex, its a pandemic…Remember – Stay at home save the NHS…” I say.

How little I knew. Skex, it turns out, is what sexting is to texting, but refers to Skype, and has emerged as a popular lockdown activity.

I’m 41 and started using Grindr five years ago. In fact, I met my last partner on it. Given that we were together for more than three years and fell madly in love at first sight, hope remains for more Grindr success. I am still in the residual grieving stage of my last relationship, working out what I want.

Before the pandemic, it was sex – as a friend jokes, “you can get a delivery on Grindr faster than Deliveroo”. But since we have all become confined to our houses, chatting on Grindr has been a lifeline. I’m not the only one who feels this way. Covid has meant that use of the app has ramped right up and I have been struck by how readily we are sharing with strangers online.

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Of course, there is Skex too but it’s the chats that are keeping me going. I don’t know where they’ll lead but they represent the promise of something beyond this stay-at-home existence.

There are the encounters where you chat. Build a rapport. Talk about the pandemic and how you’ve been coping. (altro…)