Reloscope: The Relationship Science Insights Podcast · Life Management Science Labs

Marco Dehnert, Ph.D.: Trust and Jealousy in the Digital Era — How Technology Shapes Our Emotions | Reloscope #71

·50 min·1 clip

Reloscope starts with the digital world. Marie Stella frames modern connectivity as something that now reaches into how people compare themselves, how they read relationships, and how easily trust can get mixed up with jealousy. The tone stays welcoming. She introduces Professor Marco Dennett, who teaches communication and technology at the University of Arkansas, and guides the discussion toward the emotional side of platform life rather than treating technology as only a technical problem. Comparison keeps coming up. The conversation lingers on how algorithmic feeds can present one narrow version of romance or relationship life, making a person feel more and more disconnected from the relationship they are actually living. That loop matters. Marco explains that algorithms can intensify what someone already sees, especially in echo-chamber settings, so the effect is usually not magical or immediate, but cumulative and hard to ignore on a large scale. Trust is the pressure point. The episode connects persistent digital information with the difficulty of building or maintaining confidence in a partner when an algorithmic loop keeps reinforcing the same patterns. The effects stay modest. Even so, the discussion notes that relatively small shifts can still matter when they are repeated across many users and many moments, especially in relationships where interpretation already carries a lot of weight. You can feel the caution. Rather than claiming the internet controls people, the conversation keeps returning to the idea that platforms tend to reinforce patterns users are already inside, which can make those patterns feel stronger and harder to step out of. Younger users are changing. Marco points to a growing awareness among younger people of how social media works, and that awareness is pushing some of them to seek different kinds of content or even different platforms altogether. The reason is simple. As the episode suggests, some listeners are starting to resist the corporatized defaults of the platforms they use, looking for spaces that feel less locked into the same familiar loop. The pace stays easy. Through all of it, Marie keeps the conversation friendly and conversational, letting the topic move from everyday online habits to the bigger question of how trust and jealousy change when so much of life is filtered through screens.

As heard by us

Feeds and algorithms sharpen the trust and jealousy that can shadow relationships.

Reloscope stays centered on how digital connectivity shapes trust and jealousy in romantic relationships. Marie Stella introduces Professor Marco Dennett, and the episode works best when it shows how people compare real relationships with what they see online.

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When your feed starts feeling like relationship advice.

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