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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Lifestyle
Eleanor Gordon-Smith

My wife obsessively consumes US news. She’s so stressed but can’t turn off. What should I do?

Painting: Miranda and The Tempest by John William Waterhouse.
‘The general collapse of everything is distressing. So it can seem like an obligation of responsible citizenship to be distressed,’ writes Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Painting: Miranda and The Tempest by John William Waterhouse. Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

My wife is obsessed with everything that’s happening in the US. She literally spends all day sitting on the couch, watching videos and reading opinion pieces. She’s originally from America and has been living abroad for 25 years and she has family in the US, so I get that she needs to feel connected to what’s happening. But it’s constant. Whether we’re eating, watching a TV show or movie, when we’re talking about something completely unrelated – everything, every topic, either starts or ends with outrage.

I’ve told her she needs to take at least one day off all social media, but she won’t do that even for an hour. It stresses her out more and more every day, but she just keeps going back to it – and it has been really affecting me, more lately than ever. On weekends I stay up late playing games (my way of winding down after a week of work) and she’ll go to bed early. And during those times sometimes I just sit and cry. Everything that’s happening is so stressful, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I just wish I could rip away her phone and let her breathe! I don’t know what to say or do. Is there anything that could help?

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