1. He’s Obsessively Acquiring Electronics
As the novelist and essayist Charles Baxter put it in his book Burning Down the House, “People in a traumatized state tend to love their furniture.” It’s almost as if we’re gathering things to bolster against loneliness. And there’s a study to confirm the same rule applies to marriage: Margaret Clark, a professor of psychology at Yale, found that “people who attach more value to their possessions may be less secure in their personal relationships than those who put less value on material goods.” A large-screen, 3D-enabled television isn’t complicated. A shiny new tablet won’t expect too much.
2. You’re the “Dining Dead.”
The first time it happens, you think, “How nice, that we can just be quiet together.” But the 12th time you might experience a chill so subtle you blame it on the temperature in the room. Here you are, sitting together in a nice place and…having absolutely nothing to say to each other.
