It's Just Lunch :: The Dating Tips Blog

Relationships and Technology

The new It's Just Lunch survey is now available!  Weigh in and let us know your feelings on relationships and technology.

Dating Myths Survey

The new It's Just Lunch survey is now available!  Weigh in and let us know what you think about common dating myths.

Making The Dating Grade

It’s that time of year. The days are getting shorter, the mornings crisper, tests are being crammed for, and keggers are raging. Ah, college. Those all important days and experiences seem like they were yesterday. Fast forward past graduation, maybe grad school, and your first job into reality, into a dating world that doesn’t just exist in the quad. Now instead of having three degrees (or less) separating you from potential dating partners, you’ve got a whole diverse world to choose from. So now the question is....are you going to date someone with the same educational background as you? 

In a recent It’s Just Lunch® Dating Survey we asked:

When it comes to education, would you rather date someone who has achieved a similar level of academic success from a similar caliber school as yourself?

More Women (35%), than Men (24%) said YES. 

Interestingly, more Men (53%), said that what they had achieved in their academic career didn’t have a bearing on their dating life, than Women (40%). 

Our take? Men and women definitely find it important to find someone who has had the same experiences, but a lot more of you are up for an adventure and are willing to embrace different educational backgrounds-maybe even different school colors..? We won't push it. 

 

Political Crossroads

Many relationships, especially new dating relationships don't find themselves aligned on the same road trip. So is this an opportunity to explore a dynamic adventure and enjoy for the long-term? Or just a week-end getaway towards an inevitable break-down.

This question was in the forefront of our minds when we created our latest It's Just Lunch® survey (which is causing quite a stir out there in red and blue states alike). 

56% of men believed that dating someone who has opposite political opinions might not make for a good long-term relationship, but it could create some fantastic passion.

56% of women disagreed. The survey revealed that women wanted to explore the differences and understand how men came to align with certain political opinions. Men on the other-hand, found the differences a green light to pursue a dating relationship-but were not interested in why women held a particular political stance. 

So where does this leave the future dating state of political opposites? Stay tuned. 

To read more of the yahoo article on our dating survey, click here. 

Keeping Your Political Cool With A Partner Of The Opposite Party

These are screaming times. No matter what time of day or night you turn on the TV, there is some variety of partisan bickering smothering every topic. Watch, not even the weather is going to be safe from political fallout in a couple of weeks. Luckily though, the deafening electoral process will have subsided into a manageable din that can be ignored for another four years. But, what if your partner comes from the opposite side of the political fence? The debate continues no matter who wins the presidency this year... 

We at It’s Just Lunch® wanted to know if generally folks AVOID dating someone with different political views for that very reason. Our recent dating survey showed some interesting results:

60% of men and 68% of women said that they definitely date people who have similar political opinions and beliefs.

Just over 39% of men and almost 32% of women said that they throw caution to the wind and definitely DO DATE people with DIFFERENT political ideals. 

For you brave daters in the 30%-we have some wise advice to make it through election day and beyond, from psychologytoday.com. These are the 8 types of (mis)communications that can make a political discussion push a relationship off a cliff. 

 1. Sarcasm.

2.  Blocked listening

3.  A fixed belief system

4.  Unwillingness to engage (“Let’s not talk politics”) or to allow the other side to speak.

5.  Distortion of what the other side says.

6.  Speaking for the other (“He just think that…”).  

7.  Bad-mouthing opposing perspectives.

8. Escalated emotional intensity.

If you are going to talk about your differences, Dr. Susan Heitler’s advice is;

“If you are going to engage in a political discussion, remind yourself early and often to stay cool. Keep your ears open so that you can listen for what makes sense in what others say.  Treat what others say respectfully, listening in the best possible light to their differing perspective.”* 

*To read the full article from psychologytoday, click here.