Most marriages don't end in a dramatic explosion; they fade away in the quiet of parallel scrolling. We increasingly exist in a state of Continuous Partial Attention—physically occupying the same room, but psychologically living in different worlds.
The screen in your hand is not neutral. It is an "Alternative Imagination" engineered to hijack your dopamine system. It offers endless, frictionless novelty. Researchers use the term Technoference to describe how these devices interrupt the essential, everyday "bids for connection" that build intimacy. When you glance at your phone while your partner speaks, their nervous system registers a micro-abandonment.
If you leave your marriage to compete with an algorithm on a level playing field, the algorithm wins. To reclaim your attention, you cannot just rely on restriction. You must build a shared reality that is more intense, more engaging, and more alive than the screen.