It amazes me to think of what the young guys have as resources these days...

I am in my mid 40's so there was no Internet when I was a teen just starting to experiment and figure sexuality out.

It must be so different - with the click of a mouse they learn about different activities that we only heard about in whispers and can even see pictures. I remember when I was old enough to get into the dirty bookstore and they had booths with 8mm movies and some of them were gay films - it was AMAZING and now I look at the easy access to gay porn on the net.

I think there would be a lot of benefits to growing up today - but also a lot of drawbacks. The message boards, chat rooms, cam rooms would be so exciting but knowing how perpetually horny I was back then I wonder how much trouble I would have gotten into...

There is no point to this post - just been thinking about how different it is now....

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I have had the same thoughts. I went thru many of the experiences you talked about.

I, at 51, am also making use of the online sites, and truthfully, I have been having more sex lately than I ever did in my 30's or 40's. Gotta go with the times, and take advantage of what's out there. Has worked for me!

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I am in my upper fifties. I remember all the old days and how repressed everyone was. Being gay back then was a dangerous situation.

However, you have to grow with the times. Sure, those young kids are using the Internet to learn about the theory of sex; I'm using it to draw them (of legal age) into practical experience. No more driving around for hours looking for hitchhikers, and trying to feel them out on the subject. One slip, and the cops would be the ones up your ass back then. Just get adept on surfing the Internet. Stay with the obvious legal age surfers, and you can get enough to keep you satisfied.

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No doubt, internet has changed absolutely everything. As it is the case with all such overwhelming and revolutionary changes, some of the change was for better, and some, inevitably so, for the worse.

#1
Communication became very cheap, easy and universally accessible. Things can get done very quickly and with the greatest of ease. Few people are bothered to plan on anything, be happy about it, and see their ideas and plans come to fruition. Everything can be quickly re-re-re--negotiatied and re-re-re-arranged anyway... The virtues of timely and complex planning are being forgotten and many of our lives are in a positive mess, simply because we continue projecting the comforts of the cyber world into the complexities of the real life environment unlearning all the vital skill needed to help cope with its intricacies.

#2
Internet has helped raise awareness of the gay related issues via blogs, sites, and networks. Being gay has become a largely acceptable thing. To the point that it really does not matter to anyone at all. An important sense of identity is being watered down and eventually lost.

#3
It has become so much easier to hook up for sex. Either because you can meet other dudes via numerous dating portals or because it is very easy to discover where to cruise for sex. By that very same token, more and more fellow cruisers are treating each other without the basic modicum of respect. Everyone is so easily replacable, and no one, but no one deserves the second look, second thought or possibly any thought for that matter.

A better, bigger, younger, richer, whatever dude is lurking just around the corner anyway. Sadly, that 'bigger, richer and better' too, is looking for a bigger, better, younger and richer and so, the hunt goes on and on...

---
If anything, I love the www. world. Life has gotten a bit better and a whole lot easier with it. People are just people and they have not changed that much for better, IMHO, that is..

KD

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I predict the time will come when all those of the younger generation will tire of just hooking up online and head back out into the real world to give that a try. There are good and bad points for meeting guys either online or in the real world. Most young guys seem to have very little experience going to a sexclub, ABS or park to meet guys and it is a rather alien culture for them. But someday they, too, will decide to give it a try and I bet they'll like it at least as much. All the BS of the Internet, the false starts, fake pics, and no shows are not an issue when you're cruising for sex on a park path or in the local porn theatre.

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It has also trained younger men to become pigs at the younger age....

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You say this like it's a bad thing! As long as they're legal, no problem.

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Well, these days young gay guys, are taking shooting porn of themselves and uploading them to tube sites. I never understood if they really comprehend that what they put up now can come back and bite them in the ass if they decide to make certain career choices.

This video here : Shot my load in gay twink mouth - Video - Gay Porn Juice - Gay Tube Great for my personal play time but is it always wise to show off everything that happens in the bedroom?

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Maybe the younger guys are more aware of social changes than older men? Maybe they have real reason to believe that all the porn they upload and share of themselves isn't as likely to be a problem in THEIR future.

Just days ago, Perez Hilton posted those bareback and hardcore shots of Dustin Black and then days later Dustin was featured on CNN speaking about gay issues. Not a word was mentioned about the porn shots that had been so well publicized. It didn't seem to limit his credibility one bit.

I hope the younger generation are much better at getting over their sex guilt. And I hope somewhere in all that progress, they don't forget another generation made it more possible by living our lives the way we did.

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Well at least it does not show his face if down the road he is looking for privacy...

It amazes me how many young guys in college, etc will post hard core vids or pix with their full face showing - in the future in a work situation they may regret that -

I agree with Keith in a perfect world they should not have to regret it - but they still might...

- John

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The internet has obviously so much to offer anyone. It's the most practical tool for me and my sexual romps. Hook ups in finer hotels is as good as it gets for as I'm closing in on my 46th birthday.

When I was 18 to my mid 20's it was all different. I like that all my early experiences were pre-internet. Just the hunting and searching for where to meet men was exciting in and of itself. In the SF Peninsula there were always the ABS and the Gay Areas in SF that you could likely meet someone but I was one of those exhibitionist types that liked to cruise up and down Hwy 280 from San Bruno to Redwood City. There were so many rest stops, Vista Points, cruisy areas in secluded areas around Skyline Road and Canada Road that I was out almost every night.

Most of the men I met and wanted to meet at the time were older, married, and just looooved my young mostly hairless little skinny body. I satisfied so many different levels of curiosity that I think would never have been explored if I was just hooking up on the internet. I can't tell you how many times I was naked in cars, parking lots, clearings, wooded areas, rest stop bathrooms, and offices.

I won't go into detail....I'm sure you can imagine what crazy things, single and groups, of men can do to an intensely curious and horny young man. I'll save that for another thread but my point is who's getting naked in public places like that anymore?

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I agree with the previous poster.

Actually, no matter how you look at it, every new development brings something along, AND takes away something else. For the majority, the balance may still be positive justifying the perception of general progress. But for many of us, on a very personal level, all that progress may have really meant actual regress since we all are particular to certain aspects of our experience.

I am thrilled with the overall results of the gay lib, achieved levels of equality, progress on the gay marriage issue, etc., etc.

On a very personal level, secrecy and discretion which used to be the trademarks of gay life before all of the progress previously mentioned, added tension, ingenuity, camaraderie, a very strong sense of identity and common purpose, etc. to being a gay male. Much of that is now history.

Winning a battle usually means melting together with the defeated...

KD

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Obviously you were in a area at the time that finding m4m sex was fairly easy. Can you imagine what it's like for guys in the midwest for example where you have to drive 20 miles just to go to the store! Speaking of going to the store. I'm sure we have all, or many of us anyway, have checked out the young (legal age) twink store clerks and had thoughts of what I could do with him. I've always wondered what to say to make the twink cock think of how you'd be interested in meeting up with him to enjoy what he has to offer.
Then I've thought what if a (legal age) twink was to show up at a cruising place. Would you have a session with him or think he might be too 'young' to learn at at his age?

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I've found that in the Internet age some young twinks are actively seeking out "older" men to explore and gain experience with their sexuality. I'll leave the defintion of "older" up to the reader but suffice it to say that some 18-22 year old men have actively searched and requested an encounter from late 40's to early 50's men.

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I've seen those on a popular internet advertising site but always feel that many of those are 'scammers'. ie just young guys wanting to collect e-mails/pics for laughs. I'm talking face-to-face encounters.
But many states 16/17/18 is the age of consent.

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