I (F28) used to have a great relationship with my husband (M29). We got along well, had several common interests, etc.
However, our relationship began to take a turn over the last year after he started streaming video games on Twitch.
At first it was just a hobby for him, but soon he began to get consumed by streaming. For example, while at first he’d only stream a couple days a week for a few hours at a time, around late November he began spending nearly every minute he wasn’t at work streaming (he doesn’t stream for money).
During this time, we also stopped spending nearly as much time together and our relationship predictably deteriorated. I tried talking to him multiple times about how I felt about how little time he was spending with me and finding alternative hobbies, but they all fell on deaf ears and nothing significant changed.
Last week, my husband told me he was sick and that he needed to take a few days to recover. I asked if he wanted me to stay back from a short business trip I was going on to take care of him, but he told me it wasn’t necessary.
Something about his tone didn’t sit right with me, so on a hunch I installed a small camera in his gaming room that’d allow me to see into it.
Sure enough, he’d spent every waking minute while I was gone gaming. When I came back, I was furious with him and decided to take a drastic move to fix his problem. When he went for work the next day, I sold his gaming setup and waited for him to get back.
After he got back, he immediately saw that his setup was gone and realized what I did. He started yelling at me for taking away his only hobby, and I responded by calling him an addict who only cared about his streaming, pointing out all the times he’d neglected me in favor of gaming and telling him that I knew he’d blown off work to stream.
We argued for a little while more, and then I gave him an ultimatum – I told him where I’d sold his setup and that there was a 48 hour return policy, so he could go get it. However, that would necessitate moving out, as I wouldn’t stay with him unless he got help for his habit. Long story short, he got his gaming setup then went to stay with a friend.