The Anxiety That Attention Has Left the Family (opens in new tab)

One of the strangest developments in modern marriage is that many couples are no longer primarily fighting about cruelty. They are fighting about disappearance. Not physical disappearance. Attentional disappearance. A husband sitting six feet away scrolling sports clips for three hours while vaguely murmuring “wow” at intervals that suggest either agreement or the onset of a mild neurological event. A wife lying in bed beside her partner while simultaneously conducting a second emotional life...