After the PS5 got splashed with water, which should be logged off first: the marriage or the game?

To start with the conclusion: I’m firmly on the side that destroying property is absolutely wrong. You can argue, you can make a scene, you can even hide the controller, but dumping an entire cup of water directly onto a powered-on PS5 is really like someone in your dorm shoving your computer into the laundry sink in a fit of rage—the nature of it changes completely.

Recently, blogger @josh_uglyasf posted a video on social media showing a woman pouring a full cup of water directly onto a powered-on PS5. According to the original post, the reason was that her husband was too obsessed with gaming and had been neglecting his wife. The blogger then threw out a question, basically asking: if your partner, because they weren’t getting enough attention, went after your PS5 like this, what would guys choose? The moment this question came out, the comments section instantly exploded, as lively as an entire class crowding around to gossip after evening self-study.

Netizens’ reactions were basically split into two camps, and the divide was especially clear. One side felt this was no longer just an emotional outburst, but outright destruction of someone else’s property, even crossing legal and personal dignity boundaries. Their stance was very tough, directly shouting, “Absolutely unforgivable—break up/divorce immediately!” The other side argued that since this was already a marriage, you couldn’t just focus on a single console; behind it was most likely a long-term breakdown in communication, and they should seek marriage counseling instead of continuing to hurt each other.

And of course, the internet never lacks people making memes. Some sarcastically said that this kind of move really does make the other person shift their attention back; others joked that the water-drenched PS5 had become a “water-cooling system.” It had me laughing and frowning at the same time—laughing because the jokes were so absurd, frowning because the situation itself really isn’t funny at all.

From our dorm squad-gaming experience, loving games isn’t the problem in itself—the problem is leaving all the real people in your life hanging. In multiplayer games, the worst thing is someone who doesn’t call things out or communicate, and relationships are actually the same. If you’re really busy running a dungeon, at least say something beforehand, set a time, and talk with your partner after you’re done; instead of one person sinking into the game while the other can only resort to extreme methods to get noticed. But on the flip side, no matter how bad a relationship gets, you still can’t solve it by destroying things. That kind of move only escalates the conflict from “you’re ignoring me” to “can we even keep this relationship going?”

In this controversy, what I think is most worth discussing is a trend: gaming is no longer just a simple entertainment device. In many people’s lives, it has already become something close to a part of their private space. Touching someone else’s console brings almost the same sense of humiliation as snooping through their phone or smashing their keyboard. That’s why so many people in the community are focusing on boundaries, not just on “whether someone should spend more time with their partner.”

If you really run into a similar situation, my advice is simple. First, call a ceasefire and stop escalating things; second, make the problem clear—is it gaming addiction, or long-term neglect; third, talk about rules, like how long to play each day, when companionship is non-negotiable, and whether you can find some two-player activities to enjoy together. After all, for someone like me who squads up with roommates every day, the best state of gaming has never been about letting relationships fall apart, but about making everyone laugh so hard they can’t stop. If in the end it turns into nothing but smashing machines, then it’s really meaningless.