Say what? Are men bad listeners?

Ladies, do you ever find that when you are chatting to your partners, they have a glazed look in their eye? Now, a new study has shown something that us girls long suspected; that men have low attention spans listening to conversation from their other halves and can only maintain concentration when they are talking to their friends about sport and women.

The new research, which studied 2000 men found they tune out after just six minutes while talking to their wives and girlfriends but can pay attention for 15 minutes with their friends when they are talking about football or their sex lives.

However, it’s not just the men – certain conversation topics maintain women’s interest longer also and they maintain focus when talking to their female friends for longer, too. 55 per cent of women said relationships is their top topic of conversation, while sport ranked top for men, followed by films and sex.

The men in the study cited that on at least four occasions per week, they should’ve been listening to their partners but instead they were thinking about something else. Unsurprising the worst time to try and talk to any man is while they are watching sport on the TV, flicking between channels or playing an App on their phone. Another 55 per cent of women said they test their partner to see if he is actually taking in what they are saying.

The topics men like the least are talking about people they have never met, partner’s workmates, celebrities or reality stars, fashion and shopping, other people’s relationships, horoscopes and what people have said on Facebook. Tell-tale ‘tuned-out’ signals include taking too long to respond to a question, a blank of glazed expression or when they are looking at their phone, tablet or at the TV.

“It’s natural that the two genders will find different things interesting and certain topics appeal more than others,” said a spokesperson from Ladbrokes who conducted the research.

“Men are obsessed with sport, gadgets and technology, and often these combine when trying to check scores, place bets or get the latest updates. Of course, this regularly means they aren’t always their most responsive. As with anything, getting that balance between showing effort towards a partner and allowing time for following your passions is important.”

What do you make of this study? Are you still listening? Please send your thoughts to @lovestruck and we promise to pay attention!