Dating Digital Podcast 010: “Holiday Dating”
on December 19, 2010 at 1:41 PMIn our tenth episode, Joel and guest host Laura chat about dating in and around the holidays. With all the holiday socializing going on, is it a time of plenty? Or are most people wrapped up in their own busy schedules? And what about New Years? No one wants to be the turkey at midnight with no one to kiss under the mistletoe.
Scott P. writes in to respond to Jason M. from Episode 9 and ask our opinion on the numbers game he’s discovered with online dating. If you’ve got something you’d like to share, or if you have topic ideas or questions for us, don’t hesitate to email the show! Details can be found on our Contact page.
Thanks again to Laura (@lauralundquist) for filling in as co-host this week!
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DDP Ep. 010 Show Notes
On DDP episode numero diez Joel and guest co-host Laura talk about…
Getting decorated for the holidays, Christmas shopping, and plans for the holidays with friends and family. There may also be some talk of actual ugly Christmas sweaters. Why??!!?!
Dating around the holidays. Are you too busy to meet new people? Just plain meeting a lot of new people? Laura says that dating around the holidays can be tricky, there are always those events where you’re expected to bring a date and it’s awkward if you show up alone. People are in a good mood and having fun though, so there are some good flirting opportunities!
Joel points out that if you do meet someone new, it can be really hard to follow up when there are so many things going on for everyone, and you don’t want that new connection to fizzle, but you have to understand that people have travel plans and family commitments. Laura points out that you may need to think creatively about when and where to date – try daytime dates in between Christmas shopping instead of planning an evening meetup. Window shopping could be a totally fun date, and grab coffee while walking around. Many people have really different schedules around the holidays, or are working overtime if they’re in retail or hospitality, so you have to think about that too.
Joel also mentions that if you’re single at the start of December, you’re quite likely to be single for Christmas – unless something magical happens. New Year’s Eve is a great time to be single, though! It’s also possible that you may notice, if you’re on online dating sites, that messaging slows down, with people being super busy and not responding to their messages as quickly.
Laura says she feels more pressure around New Year’s than at other times of the year, and it’s really awkward to not have someone to kiss at midnight. Joel says he has been too busy lately to check on his online dating account at PoF, but he noticed a weird change recently – you have to pay to know when someone has read a message you’ve sent. Laura points out that PoF is still much cheaper than eHarmony, and then mentions that you can get a good deal on eHarmony if you trawl the Internet for promo codes… so maybe that’s worth checking out!
Joel wonders about the Facebook apps that aim to connect singles, and asks Laura if she has tried any of those. It’s really hard to know how much info FB will share with an app or what your friends will see when you use one of those apps. Anyone with input about the changes to PoF or experience using FB singles apps, feel free to contact us!
MESSAGES
Scott P left us a message about how frustrating it is to send messages on online dating sites and get nothing back. He’s interested especially in how women perceive the experience. Scott mentions that for every 25 messages he sends out, he receives about 4 responses, and maybe sets up one date. Laura hears what Scott is saying but Joel doesn’t feel like he can turn this interaction into an equation. Scott says that even if he spends a lot of time in a message demonstrating how much attention he has paid to a woman’s profile and asking questions that he thinks should get a response, there’s no guarantee of getting one.
NEXT EPISODE – Dating in the New Year – any resolutions?
We might be three weeks between episodes what with the holidays and all but when we get back we want to talk about dating and flirting when it comes to New Years! Did you kiss a random at midnight? Find love at first sight? Break up with a horrible fiery disastrous argument over the lamest Christmas gift the world has ever seen? Send us your stories, no matter what holidays you’ve been celebrating, so we can talk about them on the show.
Also, Lara and Joel promised to dish more about ourselves in an upcoming episode so feel free to send us your questions. Comments on previous episodes are also totally welcome, as well as ideas for future ones.
Thanks again to @lauralundquist for filling in as co-host this week! You can write us, find us on Twitter (@ddpodcast, @joelduggan,@larakillian), send us an mp3 voicemail, all the traditional stuff. Send your email to: datingdigital-at-gmail-dot-com. Leave us a review in the iTunes store, and check out Joel’s comic at StarcrossedOnline (Look for the new Christmas Comic this week!) Thanks for listening!
