The Ideal First Date Should Last Almost Three Hours?

Shot of young people enjoying a drink at a bar

I guess the key word here is an “IDEAL” first date. If you’ve been on a lot of them, you’ve probably wanted to bounce sooner than this . . .

A new poll found the ideal first date should last 2 hours and 43 minutes. (???)

If you’re doing dinner and a movie . . . or taking things back to your place to “Netflix and chill” . . . maybe that’s about right. But if you’re just grabbing coffee or something, that seems a little overboard.

“Cosmo” ran an op-ed a while back that said the average first date should actually last just 57 minutes. Anything more than that is “too much too soon.” And if you like each other, your second date can be longer.

But again, we’re assuming it’s a GREAT first date, and time’s flying by. Here are a few more stats from the poll . . .

1. It takes an average of four dates to feel comfortable around someone.

2. The most popular first-date ideas are dinner and a movie . . . grabbing drinks . . . and having coffee together.

3. When a date doesn’t go well, we’re more likely to blame the other person. But plenty of people admit THEY’VE also botched it.

4. Being nervous is our top excuse for causing a date to go south. That’s followed by looking at our phone too much . . . having one too many drinks . . . and making too many jokes.

5. When we blame the other person, our top reasons include: They didn’t look like their photos . . . they made inappropriate comments . . . they showed up late or left early . . . and they talked about themself too much.

6. When a date goes well, playing it “cool” and not texting for a few days might NOT be the best strategy. People were asked to name the top signs a date went well, and #1 is the person calls or texts IMMEDIATELY. The rest of the top three are getting a goodnight kiss, and the date running longer than expected.

7. The top signs a first date DIDN’T go well are: They ghost you . . . they make an excuse to leave early . . . and there are lots of awkward silences.

8. Only 16% of single people say they’ve never been on a bad first date.

(SWNS)