We thought it would be interesting to find out whether these same members considered themselves to be talkers or listeners? So we asked a second question in the survey: Do you consider yourself mostly a talker or a listener?  We know that most people want a talker, are there enough to go around? 

The broad answer to that question seems to be "no", there aren't anywhere near enough talkers to go around because most people consider themselves listeners! which means a) Most dates can't be going to well, and b) This isn't going to change any time soon. With most people wanting a chatter and most people admitting to being listeners, daters it seems  are destined not to find what they want. Is this some secret evolutionary device to ensure eternal discontent keeps us moving on, forever expanding our chances of meeting a genetically compatible mate, or a sign that we're spending far too much time in front of the Teli, being passively entertained instead of actively engaging with life (could be neither or a thousand other things of course, feel free to tell me what in the comments section). Do we expect our date to fill in where the TV left off, amusing us while we sit back and just listen?  Anyway Here are the stats: while (as I mentioned above) 78% of Smoochers want a talkative date, only 31% of those same Smoochers consider themselves to be talkers. Most people want a talker, most people are in fact listeners. 

So the message is clear, if you're not a talker you need to sharpen up your conversation skills, but if that seems a daunting prospect, there may yet be hope. There is one component of the average date missing from our results, which we thought could make a big difference to whether people were talkers or listeners. I can be quite quiet (yes I can) until I've had a drink or two, then you can't shut me up (though you're quite likely to want to). I don't think I'm the only one that is more voluble after a glass of white, so the survey would have gone quite differently if we'd given everyone a drink  before hand.

We in the Smooch offices suspected that most dates include a drink or two, but it wasn't enough for us to "suspect", we had to know, so we ran another survey. This time we asked what the chances of a drink being part of an average first date were. 63% of those who answered replied that most of their first dates would include a drink or two. So the good news is that the percentage of "talkers" (albeit artificially enhanced) on a first date should be a lot better than our survey suggests! You can read the results of the entire drinking survey in my next blog post.

Other interesting facts we found include:

1) People who say they are talkers are even more inclined (84%) than average (78%) to want to date other talkers.

2) Men who say they are talkers are even more inclined still (90%)  to want talkers.

3) Unemployed people were more willing to date a listener (46% would), and even fewer of them considered themselves to be talkers (just 23%).