His constant screen time is really Tik’ing her off.
Donna, a 62-year-old newlywed, fears her 33-year-old husband Emmanuel, an aspiring Afro-beats rapper who she endearingly calls Neno, is addicted to TikTok — where he spends most of his time connecting with other women.
“Neno is in TikTok 24/7. It drives me insane,” groaned Donna during a recent appearance on “Dr. Phil.” “Neno uses TikTok to communicate with friends,” she added, saying he’s glued to the app for a minimum of 10 hours a day.
“But it’s not only men,” said Donna, “there are females he’s speaking with.”
The couple, who met in 2015 while Donna was traveling in Emmanuel’s home country of Ghana, tied the knot a few years ago. And despite their age gap, Emmanuel insists that he’s deeply devoted to his bride.
“I know that [Donna] is kind of older than me, but I don’t care,” he said. “Love knows no age, and you can’t control what you feel.”
His declarations of adoration aside, Donna worries Emmanuel’s cyberspace compulsion is becoming too big of a distraction in their marriage.
“My husband says he is faithful, and that I shouldn’t be jealous,” she said, noting, however, “It makes me angry.”
“I want him to pay more attention to me, especially when we’re out to dinner or we’re away on a romantic weekend,” barked Donna.
The long-suffering wife went on to claim that Emmanuel often creates an embarrassing spectacle by recording noisy videos at restaurants, and has made her sit in silence during four-hour road trips while he engages with his digital followers.
“I don’t want his social media to be with us,” Donna lamented.
However, in defense of his TikTok obsession, Emmanuel said, “I love being on social media … social media is everything.”
As a rising musician, Emmanuel insists that his incessant activity on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are crucial to the success of his career.
“I got a lot to do on social media, I promote myself. I’m an independent artist, so I’m always there,” he argued. “It’s business for me.”
And while he didn’t deny chatting with other women online, Emmanuel insisted that Donna’s concerns about his coed friendships are rooted in a woman’s innate inclination to be jealous.
“I love my wife, but she thinks there are problems. She tried to create bridges where there is not even water,” he said. “All women are jealous. Any woman who loves her husband is going to be jealous.”
To aid in bringing a new level of understanding to the twosome’s troubles, Dr. Phil, 72, invited clinical psychologist Sehfali Tsabary to weigh in on their marital woes.
“[Donna] seems to have taken on the archetype of this mother role,” said Tsabary, adding that she’s been, “enabling him in some way without even realizing that she is.”
The specialist continued, ”Her need for connection is so great that she’s allowing him to run the shop.”
Tsabary then assessed Emmanuel’s behavior, saying, “He’s this protesting, rebelling younger person, who is in this relationship to meet his own needs.”
She concluded her stern appraisal of the TikTok fiend with a harsh truth.
“He’s more married to his addiction to social media than he is married in this relationship,” said Tsabary.
And Emmanuel isn’t the only man to be afflicted with an insatiable thirst for TikTok.
In October, Brian Boxer Wachler, 55, a father of teenage daughters admitted that he’d become overly mesmerized by social media, and labeled himself a “digital deadbeat dad.”
