They say all is fair in love and war. But they never tell you what to do when you need marriage help. In an age when half of adults in the US think dating has gotten harder, it’s not surprising that many people fail to maintain healthy relationships.
There’s couples counseling, group retreats, and chats with friends over the phone. But people sometimes forget about the benefit of a roundtable discussion with experts on the topic. That’s where a relationship advice podcast comes in.
There’s a big world of online relationship advice, and podcasts are a great place to start. Here we’ll give you five tips for selecting podcasts that give advice about relationships.
1. Choose a Relationship Advice Podcast with Subject Matter Experts
The running joke these days is that everyone is making a podcast. Your friend, your neighbor, and even some guy down the street is launching a podcast on some esoteric topic. While this is great, it means there’s a lot of chaff to sift through.
When we imagine a crazy person, one of the first things that comes to mind is a conspiracy theorist speaking into a microphone. In other words, just because someone has a podcast doesn’t mean they are knowledgeable. You wouldn’t want to call a relationship advice hotline only to discover it’s a group of crackpots.
Look for podcasts that bring on experts. Psychologists, dating and sex experts, and so on. This means you are getting an authoritative source to quash any myths or bad advice.
It’s worth the time to investigate any so-called experts that appear on the show. Usually, their names will appear in the episode notes. You can search for them on Google and see if they have a good reputation and actual credentials.
2. Look for a Variety of Opinions
The echo chamber that the Internet has created has made it difficult to stay objective in recent years. Everyone gathers with their friends into a filter bubble isolated from any contrary opinions. With nothing to use as a springboard, people’s opinions only get more extreme over time.
It’s important that there are at least a handful of dissenting voices. People can be wrong, but having too many like-minded people makes it harder for us to see our flaws. The same is true of the hosts of a podcast.
You can tell you’re in an echo chamber when there is no attempt to question one’s beliefs and ideas. When any conflicting opinions get a strawman portrayal. When during the discussion of what makes limerence or love, everyone decides love is better.
3. Look for a Variety of Topics
It’s easy for podcasters to fall into the rut of covering celebrity relationships and calling viewers to whinge about personal drama. This is very low-hanging fruit, but it’s easy content to make. Unfortunately, it doesn’t expose you to new ideas and concepts.
You want a podcast that teaches you useful things every time you listen. They cover new ground, especially subjects you had never considered before.
Plus, you are probably not going to listen to every episode. Instead, you can sift through the podcasts until you find something you like. That way there is no limit to what you can listen to.
Focus on podcasts that try to think of interesting topics, not just the most common ones. They ask provocative questions that open your mind to things you had never considered before.
4. In-Depth Topic Discussion
You don’t want just a passing mention of certain topics. Sometimes, you really need the podcasters to dig into the meat of certain subject matter.
Good podcasts will give every subject its due. If it takes two or three episodes to cover it, then so be it. That way you can get a comprehensive discussion that may touch on a particular aspect you had doubts about.
Ideally, the podcasters will cite their sources and give you reading material to dig deeper for your own purposes. You can use this to vet what they are saying for accuracy and veracity. This is a good habit to have on the Internet as people can make quite extreme claims.
Many podcasts will label these longer discussions with Part 1, 2, and so on. If you don’t have the time or the desire to listen, you can skip them over.
5. Avoid Podcasts That Put Their Sponsors Front and Center
It’s understandable that podcasters need to advertise sponsor products. They need compensation for their work, and in some cases they are doing this as a full-time job. It’s really no trouble to listen to a 30-second advertisement to keep the podcast alive.
But every now and then, you run into a podcast where the advertising is heavily integrated into the discussion itself. The podcasters are pushing a certain product hard, whether that be therapy apps or aphrodisiacs.
It’s not just what they are promoting, but how they are promoting it. If you get the impression after watching the episode that your life wouldn’t be complete without it, that could be a worrisome sign.
Further, they may be making extraordinary claims about what the product can do. For example, pills that can improve your love life but which have no peer-reviewed studies or FDA backing.
Find the Right Podcast for Advice on Relationships
A relationship advice podcast is an excellent way to get a different perspective. This could be a marriage helper that gets you through the thick and thin of your relationship, or a place to feel validation. As you look for the right advice about relationships in a podcast, consider the five above tips.
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