Relationship expectations are being shaped by a TikTok trend that tells you your partner should anticipate everything, no asking required. Tony Tedesco calls it emotional mind reading dressed up as romance. Jen Kirsch says the problem is simpler: people just want to feel seen.

Tedesco's argument is that the expectation almost always falls on one person to initiate, plan, and pursue, while the other evaluates. When nobody calls that out, he says, it stops being romance and starts being a chore.

Kirsch has watched herself over-show up in relationships, handling every detail, then waiting for a partner to do something without being asked. What she wants, and what she says most people want, isn't a plan. It's evidence someone is paying attention.

Topics: relationship expectations, never having to ask, TikTok relationships, emotional mind reading, dating advice

GUEST: Jen Kirsch, Tony Tedesco

Originally aired on 2026-05-11