THE DAILY COMMUTER
Dear Abby: My boyfriend of two years, “Rick,” is addicted to social media – mainly the women on there. I’m not on any of his social media, and it seems like he acts like he’s single there. If he’s not at work, he is at home, but always on his phone.
Rick pays more attention to Facebook than he does to me. There are more than 2,000 women on his FB, and he follows thousands on his TikTok. He likes and “hearts” their pictures and even comments. He sees nothing wrong with it because he’s home with me and not physically in contact with them. This has been our only problem the whole time we have been together. When I express my feelings about it, he tells me I’m overreacting and that it’s “just social media.”
I told Rick I feel like he’s cheating in a way because he is devoting his attention to other females that he could be giving me. It’s like he needs constant attention, even if it’s innocent. It makes me feel like I’m not enough for him, that he’s no longer interested in me and he’s looking for the next gal to move on to.
I feel like I have to compete with these women online. His TikTok is mainly women dancing half-naked. I can be literally right next to him in bed, but he would rather look at them. Other than this addiction, Rick is an amazing man. Please help.
Competing in Ohio
Dear Competing: Rick may be “amazing,” but he is also absent. He may be next to you physically, but if his attention is directed to the dancing girls on screen, you could freeze to death and he wouldn’t notice. In a way, in fact, you
ARE freezing because your love life has been put on ice. Unless Rick is willing to find things he can do with you rather than feed his addiction, you really should find a partner who is available.
Dear Abby: My husband has always been a rule-breaker. During the COVID lockdown, he refused to change his routines. He continued to do unnecessary errands daily and eat lunch out (even if it meant in his car). My pleas for him to stop fell on deaf ears. I protected myself by keeping my distance.
Although neither of us got the virus, I’m having trouble excusing his selfish behavior. He has offered no apologies and seems to think he did nothing wrong because neither of us got sick. I maintain that is not the point. He put both of us AT RISK. How can I get past this?
Dodged It in the Midwest
Dear Dodged It: You and your husband have been lucky. A way to get past this would be to ask your husband in a nonconfrontational manner WHY he did what he did, and whether he took into consideration that it might have put you in danger. Then let him explain.
If his response is not satisfactory enough for you to “get past this,” recognize that this is what you signed on for when you married a “bad boy” (aka a rule-breaker) and make sure to take ALL the necessary precautions to protect yourself in the future.
Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, aka Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother Pauline Phillips. Contact Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
ACROSS
1 Chilly
5 Singer __ Cobbs
Leonard 10 Phishing email,
e.g.
14 Length x width 15 Former Houston
NFLer
16 “God forbid!” 17 Low in fat 18 Quarterback
Favre
19 Leo or Libra 20 Spacecraft
component 22 Homemade
bombs: Abbr. 24 Crappy grade 25 Male child 26 Foliage 28 Theme park attractions
question
32 At an end 33 Gentle touch 34 Apt rhyme for
“ignites” 38 Many-colored
cats
40 Do another
take 41 Silverware
pieces
42 For each
43 Like facts 44 Comes in 46 Target rival 47 “Ally McBeal” actress ThorneSmith
50 Spy org. 51 Choose 52 Draped
garment
53 Did damage to
units
59 As of
61 Leafy green
veggie
62 Part of a forest 63 Voices below
sopranos 64 “Frozen” queen 65 “The View” host
Haines
66 Film critic Jeffrey 67 __ off (irked)
DOWN
1 Serene
cookie”
Pb
water
5 Maguire of
“Spider-Man” 6 What we breathe 7 __ of hand 8 Straight, for short 9 Gallery employee 10 “Help me!” 11 Gently scold 12 Make mad 13 Dough, bread, or
cabbage
21 The L in UCLA 23 Pre-finals round 27 After-dark
“shopportunity” 28 Van Halen genre 29 __ Drago (Rocky
Balboa foe) 30 Sandwich shop 31 Used to be 33 Kind of a drip? 35 Wedding dance 36 Guided trip 3
this”
39 Dollars and __ 40 High-___ image 42 Get nosy about 45 In a creepy way 46 Rio automaker 47 Retails for 48 Sung stage
drama 49 Say out loud 50 “The game of
kings” 54 Tomcat or tom
turkey, e.g. 55 “Do it or __!” 56 Deceased 58 Huge body of water