My spouse is always on their phone, and it's really exhausting me with their indifference.

Lately, my communication with my spouse has almost ended. They leave for work in the morning, and in the evening, they either bury themselves in their phone or watch television. I try to talk, but they give short answers. We’ve practically turned into roommates. A few times I’ve asked, ‘Who are you texting so much?’ and they brush it off with, ‘Work matters,’ but I can’t shake off this uneasy feeling. Do you think this is just indifference, or could there be something else going on behind the scenes?

I had something similar happen to me as well. My spouse was constantly texting either for work or with friends. Eventually, we talked and established some boundaries, so now we take an hour screen break on weekday evenings. Honestly, it has really helped, and it’s worth trying.

This might be the case; sometimes men try to forget work stress or general fatigue by constantly staring at the screen. It’s not true for everyone, but if the conversation is really work-related, maybe it’s unnecessary to be so suspicious. I think you should sit down and talk clearly first, and say “I’m not comfortable.”

To be honest, what are you doing all day? Maybe when he gets home, he can’t find anything to share with you. In marriage, both sides need to nurture communication. It’s easy to say that he’s indifferent, but maybe you need to take some new steps to break this routine as well.

Marriage doesn’t work this way. You should put the phone aside and learn to spend time with your family. Maybe you could be a bit more authoritative, after all, as a woman in this marriage, you need to establish balance. For instance, you could ask, ‘How many hours do you spend looking up from your phone every evening?’

I swear it happened to me, and it didn’t end well. My spouse said they were saying ‘work’, but it turned out they were messaging someone else. I don’t want to say something like that to you, but don’t trust too much in this excuse of work. Just sit down and ask directly; you won’t feel at ease until you find out if there are other things.

Thank you to those who have written this far. I mentioned it again yesterday; this time he showed what was on his phone, but there wasn’t much in the messages anyway. He said a bit more about having a “long shift, busy work.” But I still feel a coldness from time to time; this lack of communication hurts me even more.

I think it’s not unfounded to feel like there’s still something going on with you. Even if work messages appear, they might have been deleted, for instance; these things are hard to tell. Just ask about every app on the phone, whether there’s another place where conversations happen besides WhatsApp and so on. It’s normal for you to feel so uneasy.

Go to marriage counseling; first, you need to resolve communication issues. There are a few therapists in Istanbul, N*** K**** in Kartal is recommended.

The cold feeling that hits as soon as the eve turns is really something that gets under your skin. Especially when you get short answers when you ask something, it feels like you’ve just turned into roommates. One day, just sit across from each other and say, ‘this situation is draining me,’ openly share your feelings.