I just moved in with a male friend I've known for a year. (I'm male.)

He comes from a somewhat macho culture where I think guys would try to beta others.

I notice him doing this kind of beta'ing to me. If he's studying and I need to tell him something fairly important, like how he can solve a problem with a program he was working on, he just ignores me. Whereas, if I'm studying, he'll interrupt me like it's important, then just say something pointless.

My initial response is to just ignore this because it seems childish, however I worry that ignoring it will screw with the roommate dynamic, especially seeing as how we are working together on projects.

In other words, what are some tips for diffusing the passive-aggressive, social power plays some people make?

Usually, I would just hang out with other people and ditch this kind of thing, but I just moved in and don't plan on moving out, so that's not an option.

Although this is only tangentially related to pick up, I don't think any other circles would have any suggestions for this kind of situation.