‘AITA for asking my girlfriend to let me watch a movie instead of talking through it?’
The internet is siding with a man who called out his girlfriend for always choosing to talk only when he’s watching a movie.
The situation was discussed on Reddit’s popular ‘Am I The A**hole’ forum, where the original poster (OP) shared his frustration over the one-sided communication dynamic in his relationship.
Man reveals how girlfriend starts a conversation as soon as he watches a movie
In the Reddit post titled, “AITA for telling my girlfriend to just let me watch a movie?” the OP explained that his girlfriend had a strange habit of only engaging in conversation when he was already focused on something else.
The OP explained, “I come home, she doesn't talk about anything. We do the chores that need doing, I try to start conversation while doing them and she barely responds. We make dinner together in complete silence, if I try to initiate conversation she just gives me one word answers or huh huhs. Again she says nothing about her day. We sit down and have dinner and eat I'm complete silence. Again, she barely responds when I try to start a conversation. Then after dinner we sit down to relax a bit, I wait to see if she wants to talk about anything but she's just scrolling through her phone.”
But the second the OP puts on a movie, she suddenly has endless things to say.
“So then I start watching a movie or a show and THEN, as soon as it starts, suddenly she starts telling me all about her day," he said.
The OP explained he was the kind of person who preferred to watch a movie intently and not do anything else. But his girlfriend thinks this is the right time to talk.
"I'm trying to pay attention to the movie and she's rambling on about what happened at work, what she needs from the supermarket, what her dad said on the phone, what she needs to do tomorrow, what happened with her sister and on and on and on. And then she gets mad when I only give her one word replies like she gives me," he said.
OP had previously asked his girlfriend why she never talks during dinner, but she just got angry and refused to explain.
"So yesterday we start watching a movie, and like usual she starts talking and not paying any attention, and then she starts complaining that the movie doesn't make any sense and she's not understanding the story," he said.
The OP told her it would make sense if she was paying attention but she got mad with his response, complaining that he only cared about movies and not about what she had to say.
“I tried again to tell her that I always try to start conversations with her but she never engages, and only starts talking after I've already started doing something else. She said I never talk about anything interesting, so I told her her work stories aren't interesting either. Now she's mad and giving me the silent treatment," the OP said.
Frustrated, he turned to the Reddit community for advice: “AITA for telling my girlfriend to let me watch a movie instead of talking through it?”
Internet backs man who asked girlfriend to let him watch movie in peace
Reddit users overwhelmingly sided with the OP, declaring him "NTA" and calling his girlfriend’s behavior manipulative and frustrating.
One top comment read, “NTA. I'm sure I'll get downvoted for overanalyzing internet strangers based on limited data, but I suspect GF only values your attention if she feels she has stolen it away from something else. It's a manifestation of insecurity. She can go to therapy to deal with this. OR, you could start playing movies, podcasts, whatever during chores and dinner to get the conversation going.”
Another user agreed, saying, “NTA. When my niece was 6 she did this constantly, if it was quiet and I asked my sister a question or tried to tell a story she had to say something and get the attention focused on her, if I said I have to pee, she had to pee more than me and ran to the bathroom but my niece was 6, and I talked to her and eventually she adjusted and changed her behavior. Your GF isn’t 6 and that crap isn’t cute, I don’t mind talking through something old that I’ve seen but watching a new show/movie, don’t talk it’s rude and if you don’t get that…I can’t help you!”
One user pointed, “NTA, but what would happen if you turned off whatever you were watching the moment she started talking? Would she also stop talking?”
Another wrote, “NTA. You are not compatible with this woman. To be fair, I'm not sure anyone is.”
"NTA and her whole “you never talk about anything interesting” is so freaking self-absorbed. So when you try to talk to her, it’s nothing interesting that warrants any sort of actual engagement or response. But when she’s talking to you, it’s important enough to warrant your full attention. Talk about one sided. The fact that you’ve brought this up with her before and she hasn’t had any response other than getting angry leads me to believe it’s probably on purpose,” a user said.
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.
