Google Calendar Is the 'Killer App' for Polyamorous Couples

A controversial new BBC investigation suggests that polyamorous relationships could become the norm within the next decade. Regardless of whether you’re Team Monogamy or not, we can all agree on one thing: Google Calendar is a must if there are four of you planning date night.

“We use a Google calendar to keep track of date nights,” one member of a four person (and counting!) relationship explained to the BBC. “Who gets the TV and who is in what bedroom.”

They’re not the only Type A poly couples fighting the status quo using Google Cal; BetaBeat points out that there’s even an entry about the practice in the Sex Positive Wiki: “It’s been described as the ‘killer app’ for people who identify as polyamorous because it allows multiple users to maintain shared or private calendars and can greatly ease the polyamorous lifestyle’s challenge of time management.”

Other blogs discuss and suggest using Google Calendar, too. From More Than Two:

Keeping everyone on the same basic page with regard to scheduling is greatly facilitated by technology. Most of the poly groups I know use Google Calendar to manage and synchronize schedules; create a Google Calendar that everyone has access to, and let the people involved put their schedules on it.

This makes planning easy. It also makes it easier to deal with schedule changes; if something comes up, or something falls through, everyone can just glance at the calendar to see what everyone else is up to. Movie sold out and you have a sudden hankering for French fries instead? Take a look at the schedule and see what the other folks are doing, and who’s available for a late-night fast-food run! You get the idea.

And then there’s the polyamorous woman who color-coded her lovers (RIP Sex Diaries):

10 a.m. I update my Google calendar while I’m in the office, in between discussing fund-raising proposals for the mental health charity I work for. Now that I’m seeing three people, it’s gotten more complicated. The calendar is color-coded for each person so I know at a glance when I’m free and whether I’m “over-doing” anyone. Biker Guy is blue. The One, Possibly is red. Weekly Fun is orange. Administration is the one part of my job I’ve always hated, but I’ve really improved since I started dating.

That seems less collaborative, though. Anyway, Google Calendar: not just for business meetings and brunch plans.