Communicative couples

A survey by the polling institute Innofact says German couples who live together communicate an average of 102 minutes a day - not the rumored 10 minutes.

Innofact, commissioned by the German online partner agency Parship, polled 1,000 people throughout the country and found that unmarried couples communicate for 114 minutes and married couples for 93 minutes.

"That is quite a lot," Eric Hegmann, 44, a Hamburg-based journalist, author, singles coach and online dating expert, told Deutsche Welle.

"You have to take into consideration that if both partners work during the day, maybe pursue hobbies after work, they don't really spend that much time together."

Talking face to face still gets the lion's share of time: 75 minutes a day. But the institute found that modern forms of communication are used more and more regularly: mobile phones, online social networks, Skype and text messages, for instance.

Communication is important for a stable relationship

Hegmann said he was pleased that modern forms of communication like text messages were part of the survey. "In the past, text messages weren't even considered as information or as communication," he said.

"The trend toward more technology in communication is sure to continue," he added. "Forms of communication will evolve that we can't even begin to think about now, and couples might eventually use them, too."

The survey also found that younger couples speak more than older couples.

Between the ages of 18 and 29, communication added up to 113 minutes a day, while people aged 60 years and over spoke 89 minutes a day.

"When a relationship is fresher, younger, then people tend to have a stronger need to communicate," Hegmann said.

Author: Dagmar Breitenbach
Editor: Martin Kuebler