Doug.
Here we have the Lemu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.
Fascinating.
It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.
Uh, Lemu, is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
Cut the camera.
They see us.
Only pay for what you need at libertymutual.com.
Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.
Savings vary.
Underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates excludes Massachusetts.
The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in more places that could expose you more to identity theft.
But LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second.
If your identity is stolen, our US-based restoration specialists will fix it.
Guaranteed or your money back.
Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans, or financial losses alone.
Get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with LifeLock.
Save up to 40% your first year.
Visit LifeLock.com slash podcast.
Terms apply.
Could zero date make your love life more efficient?
Thanks for asking!
In early 2023, dating site eHarmony released findings from a survey of over 1,000 singletons.
The research found that, on average, they spent 55 minutes per day logged into the dating app, with six conversations on the go at the same time.
Despite that, as many as 70 of those surveyed felt that heavy dating app usage had a negative impact on their mental health.
Spending so much energy on dating can get overwhelming.
But fear not, I'm here to tell you about a solution which could help you take back control of your love life.
The Zero Date.
What's it all about?
The idea was invented back in 2018 by American entrepreneur Christina Wallace.
Let's listen to an extract of her talking about zero dates at a TED talk that same year.
The point of this story is that online dating doesn't have to suck.
Don't treat it like a game and don't treat it like a resume review.
Instead use it to source and qualify leads and then get offline as quickly as possible with the zero date.
In essence, the idea is to move quickly by arranging a meeting with your match as soon as possible, but only after conducting a few key screening checks.
In Wallace's case, she wanted to see that the person's messages firstly, were written in complete sentences with good grammar secondly, referenced something from her dating profile and finally, avoided all sexual content.
That would allow her to filter out people who weren't genuinely interested in getting to know her or only wanted to do so for sordid reasons.
If a person passed screening, she would then set up a zero date which was limited to one drink, one hour.
The aim being to establish if she would like to actually have dinner with that person.
What's the difference between a zero date and a regular first date then?
You could say that a zero date is a pre-first date.
The one hour time limit means that there's not enough time for dinner.
It's important to be clear about that expectation with your date prior to meeting them.
Wallis based her idea on research which showed that we can actually work out pretty quickly whether we click with a potential partner or not.
For example, a Virgin Media study from 2020 found that online daters believed that they could tell whether a match has potential within just 30 seconds of on-screen chit-chat.
While a study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine in 2010 suggested it only takes a fifth of a second to fall in love.
And after all, as Wallace told Glamour UK, for an article on zero dates in 2023.
Life is too short to spend time on awful dates.
What else do I need to know?
You should also make sure you're in control of your exit strategy.
You don't want to have to wait for your match to drive you home, so make sure you have your own transportation arrangements in place.
Nevertheless, even if you're going on zero dates in the name of efficiency, that doesn't mean you can't make the most of the moment and maintain a positive attitude.
Stay engaged in the conversation for the time that you're there and remain open to the possibility of a genuine connection.
There you have it.
Now you know whether zero dates could make your love life more efficient.
In under three minutes, we answer your questions and help you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines.
Listen along and you will really know for sure.
