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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to LTB

36 replies

Swampshade · 30/09/2020 12:29

DH and I have been together for eight years, married for four, with one DS. He's smart, funny, interesting, handsome, successful etc. However, he completely ignores me and I feel like it's ruining my life.
He's on his phone a lot when I'm speaking to him and doesn't listen to me. If I ask him something he'll respond even though he's not listening, like "please could you pass the salt?" he'll say "sure" and not move to pass the salt. I'll ask again and he'll say "sure" and not move. Then I'll raise my voice and he'll look all surprised at why I'm exasperated and he'll pass the salt and sometimes say "you don't need to raise your voice" or "you could just ask nicely". Or, he'll be going to the kitchen and I'll ask him to bring something back. He'll say he will and then never, ever return with the thing I asked for - ever.
Our son doesn't like being put in his highchair and left - I guess he gets bored. Then he gets fussy and when we try to feed him when he's already fussy then he's more difficult to feed and the whole thing escalates. So, I've said to my husband dozens of times that if he's feeding DS, not to put DS into the highchair until the food is ready. Despite this, he puts DS into the highchair before starting to make food every single time. Then I have to take over feeding when DS is fussy and difficult and won't eat properly. When I challenge him on this, he just says he "forgot" AGAIN.
Our dog has a bit of a stealing problem, she's a puppy so it's not unusual. She often gets a bit anxious with the things she's stolen and isn't very easy to get things back from when she thinks she's in trouble. I've asked DH hundreds of times not to leave things in her reach. And yet, he ALWAYS does. This morning I've had to recover a t-shirt left on the bottom step of our staircase, the selotape that was left on the desk, a packet left on the edge of the kitchen sides and a pen left on a side table. Because our dog is more intimidated by my husband (I think purely because he's male and larger than me rather than anything he's done), I have to get things off her to stop her getting distressed. (We're seeing a behaviourist for this problem and she's not aggressive or anything so not looking for dog advice here).
These are just some examples but I feel like DH ignores everything that I have to say. If it's just a conversation then he'll bury himself in his phone, if it's a request then he'll "forget". I don't know what to do anymore. I'm sick of raising my voice but he doesn't even look up otherwise, and my life is being made so difficult by him not following basic instructions. I can't just let him deal with the consequences of not listening but it will be detrimental to DS/the dog and it's not fair on them.
I've brought it up multiple times, calmly and afterwards and tried to get to the bottom of it. He always apologises and says he'll try to change etc but nothing happens.
AIBU to LTB? What are my other options?

OP posts:
MotherMood · 30/09/2020 13:26

Has he got ADHD?

Swampshade · 30/09/2020 13:26

@MotherMood

Has he got ADHD?
Nope. There's nothing "wrong" with him at all.
OP posts:
loobylou10 · 30/09/2020 13:30

He is showing total disrespect to you op by ignoring you.
You 'moan' and 'nag', he says sorry but then goes back to behaving in exactly the same way. God, I couldn't live like that.
Sit him down, tell him what needs to change, tell him what will happen if he doesn't change.
He's taking the piss because he can.

PopPopPopPopPop · 30/09/2020 13:41

I have to agree with @loobylou10. It's ultimatum time.

IndecentFeminist · 30/09/2020 13:42

Is he like this with other people?

Onxob · 30/09/2020 14:03

That's very strange. If you go out for dinner or something does he engage with you? If you were talking about something important to you would he put the phone down and engage? Is it only domestic "stuff" that has him zoning out?

You say he's funny, intelligent etc and you have loads in common so I assume he's not ignoring you ALL the time? Does he really not like being told what to do? Some weird hangover from his childhood?

Kalula · 30/09/2020 14:04

Maybe you need to pack a bag and have it ready when he comes back and tell him you are very unhappy and why and that you are staying somewhere for a night or so and in that time he needs to wake up to himself, agree to marriage counselling and change or else your marriage is over. It might take seeing you with a bag in your hand walking out the door for him to get a big shock, and snap himself out of it.

ABCDay · 30/09/2020 14:05

The fact that if he isn't looking at his phone he'll concentrate on his finger nails or socks rather than engage with you, OP, tells you everything you need to know. I wouldn't be surprised that if you looked at other areas in your relationship there will be little things you might not be noticing just now that are just as disrespectful.

With regards to you having to ask him so often to do things, he'll just be hearing noise now. It's like telling a dog to sit 20 times when it hasn't done it on the first command, it's not going to happen.

Try asking him to pass the salt at the table tonight. If he doesn't do it try saying "I'm leaving you" or something similar (as long as you mean it) and see if that gets his attention.

It's not a phone problem.

PomBearWithoutHerOFRS · 30/09/2020 14:45

You say "he says interesting things" when? And who to?
if he cared, he would change, or at the very least, be making an obvious effort to do so. He isn't. He just trots out the empty, meaningless apology, and carries on.
Can you really live like this for the rest of your life?

JustGetThroughTheDay · 30/09/2020 14:52

Get him to watch the social dilemma. Maybe that might make him rethink his phone time.
If he's got an iPhone you can look on screen time and see how much time you are spending on there and how many pick ups you've done. Maybe that might surprise him and make him think. I've got mine on so that I get a set amount of time a day and my phone won't allow me to access anything after ten pm unless I put my code in

AnnaFour · 30/09/2020 15:03

It sounds like more than just phone addiction to me. Although the other behaviour could be linked - reading cereal packets or things like that to replace reading random info on his phone.

I also think he should watch the Social Dilemna.

He sounds really tuned out to normal life. That could also be part of being distractable because of how his phone use has affected his attention span. If you are doing certain tasks you can often literally not hear other people - and he might be going into this mindset as a habitual thing (even to the point of responding to you and not realising he's done it).

I think the only thing I could suggest is that you find YOUR phone and record him quietly for a few days if you can. If that doesn't make him address this issue then I think you can chalk it up to he has checked out of family stuff with you.

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