Social media can be deeply enthralling. Many times than not, we end up spending hours scrolling through Instagram feeds and Facebook stories. We, however, need to separate the superficial from the important things in life.
Your spouse should come before those memes or Youtube vlogs. When your spouse gives their phone more attention than you, you are likely to get frustrated. Here are the steps you can take to deal with such a situation.
Seek interactive counseling
Counseling doesn’t always mean that your marriage is hanging on by a thread. If you and your partner cannot talk about the issue without getting into a scuffle, seek professional help from a marriage counselor. You and your partner can have both joint and separate counseling sessions to find a solution to your problem.
Burnaby counseling has highly trained professionals who will guide you through the problem and help you reach a solution. Interactive Counselling offers counseling sessions that are guaranteed to improve your relationship with your spouse.
Approach the situation with care
You want to resolve the issue, not start an argument or fight over their social media use. How you approach the issue will determine the route the topic will take. When bringing up the issue, don’t put it as a criticism of their behavior. Criticism is likely to make your partner feel like you are judging them and will take offense.
Try to approach the situation as politely and as calmly as you can, no matter your level of frustration. This will allow you to get your message across, and your partner will listen to your concerns much better than if you attack them.
Have an honest and open conversation
Once you have made your concerns known, you and your partner need to sit down and have a serious talk about the issue. Explain to them how their constant use of social media affects them. It could be that you feel they are not giving you enough attention. Maybe you are worried they are exclusively talking to someone else.
You also need to be willing to listen to your partner’s reasons for constantly being on social media. Let them express themselves as well so that they feel listened to. This makes them more willing to listen to you also. An honest conversation paves the way for reforms.
Decide on the way forward
Once you have had an open conversation about the matter, you now need to decide what to do to deal with the issue. You can decide to set boundaries on phone usage in the time the both of you are together. You can pitch some suggestions to your partner and see if they are okay with them.
Let your partner also give suggestions that deal with the situation. An example is putting the phone away during meal times. You can put phones on mute or do not disturb mode during dates. You can also put the phone away when having a conversation with your partner.
Follow through the solutions
Don’t let all that talk go in vain. Ensure the both of you implement the solutions that you agreed on. You need to keep your promises to each other. Otherwise, all that talk would have been pointless.
Not following through with what you agreed on will lead to the topic again. This time it will probably not be so calmly handled. It will lead to more serious problems in the long run. The secret to any working marriage is sharing concerns, finding solutions, and doing what you agree on.