First of all, I realize this is probably more of a shortcoming on my part, but nevertheless, I am who I am.

My wife has gotten really into “romance reality” TV in the past year. In recent months, it has reached a fever pitch where she is just walking around with a show playing out loud on her phone almost all the time. Doing chores? Watching love is blind. In between a match while we’re gaming together? Blasting love island. I generally keep earbuds in so I don’t have to listen to it, and because Im sure she doesn’t want to hear my shows just like I don’t want to hear hers.

I make an honest effort to avoid the inane types of people who go on these shows in the real world, so to come home to what used to be a sanctuary and have to jam earbuds in and move all the way across the house to not be subjected to the dumbassery those people exude is exausting and has me at the absolute end of my rope. Its gotten to a point where I might actually go run errands at random times just to get some peace. I know she sees it as an “unwind” which I don’t understand but I can at least accept. I’ve made my position on these types of shows unabashedly clear on many occasions, perhaps being harder on them than I should be.

If she had kept watching her usual dramas it wouldn’t even be an issue for me, it’s just the endless barrage of utter idiocy and manufactured drama out of these people’s mouths that I can’t stand.

How can I go about bringing up that this is a problem for me without sounding like a “stop having fun” type or seeming condescending about her TV choices?

  • Anony MooseEnglish
    4·
    10 months ago

    Usually someone who has obsessive behavior has something in their life that they’re not settled with. The brain sort of “gets stuck” trying to redress the imbalance of the unmet need; the coping behavior (in this case the trashy shows) doesn’t actually fulfill the need, but the brain’s still latched onto it as what might help if you just get enough of it, so the consumption grows out of all proportion.

    Wow, this struck such a chord with me. It suddenly highlighted periods in my life where I’ve obsessively consumed (media, substances) with a feeling of no control, and those were often times where I was struggling with an underlying (often unrecognized) issue.