Discussion: Studies Show Facebook Causes Most Divorces

Most people have come to the conclusion that Facebook can be destructive to relationships, but we had no idea that it could end so many marriages.

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Facebook is one of the most successful and widely poplar social networks we’ve ever seen. Before it, there was MySpace, but Facebook has changed social networking in such a way that it can no longer be called a fad, and is now it is officially a publicly traded company. When everyone you know can be located on a website, there is always room for trouble and relationship problems. Every single one of us dreads the day we log in to see that relationship status change our partner didn’t discuss with us; and we all have to admit Facebook has made it that much easier to stalk lovers and figure out who’s not being loyal with something as simple as walls and comments on photo albums.

With the recent wedding ceremony of the site creator Mark Zuckerburg to his longtime girlfriend, one has to wonder if Zuckerburg can resist falling victim to the same fate a third of all marriages succumb to in this country.

A recent survey conducted by the participation of divorce lawyers (Divorce Online)  founded that more than a third of all UK divorces were a result of a Facebook mishap. Documented in more than a third of all divorce filings was the word “Facebook.” And to make matters worse, more than 80% of US divorce lawyers say they have seen a rise in the number of cases that cited the social network as the cause of marital woes.

With potential mistresses and secret lovers only a few clicks and likes away, is it really fair to blame the bulk of this country’s breakups on one website? Are we just going to act like self-control is the unicorn of this generation–more like a mystical creature than a real character trait? Or could we all just be itching for someone else to blame for our boredom of monogamy?

Speak on it.

19 comments

  1. Facebook is like field day to most men. They have access to so many women that if they aren’t the faithful type, Facebook will make that even easier for them. To be honest, Facebook is like Blackplanet on crack for most of them. I just say watch what your man does on the Book. Because if they don’t want to be faithful, they will look for something on the side in their spare time. Enough said!

  2. I’m a divorcee and my ex husband found a former girlfriend on Facebook to sleep with in his spare time while we were married. I can’t really blame the site for that because I feel like a grown a– man should have enough self control to be faithful to his wife. My ex cheated because he wanted to cheat. Facebook made it easier and more convenient. However, he made up in his mind independently that he was going to cheat on me. We’re all adults here.

    1. I’m sorry to hear that. But I’d like to ask you a question. Did your ex husband display any earlier sign of being a cheater before you got married? Did you catch him before you got married? I’m engaged now and would love to hear your perspective.

      1. Yeah he cheated on me before we got married. I forgave him and decided I loved him enough to move forward with our relationship. Big mistake. That phrase “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” has a deeper meaning to me now. But I had family warn me about him but I wanted to be with him anyway. But don’t feel bad for me, I am a lot happier now not having to worry about what some man is doing behind my back.

        1. I’m glad you’re happy. I’m just glad you ended it. People don’t usually change their relationship habits at this age. He’ll probably cheat on the next wife too.

  3. It’s too easy to blame Facebook for why grown people decide to step out on their spouses. It has to be a deeper issue that we’re not addressing before we are getting married. The real question should be, why is monogamy a problem for most Americans now? What happened between the time our grandparents were coming up to now?

    1. People are a lot more selfish than they were back when our grandparents were coming up. Our society has gotten a lot faster and more self serving. We have sex faster, we fall in love faster, and we get bored faster. We aren’t loyal (most of us) to others because we keep putting self first. I also think our obsession with pop culture and Hollywood has impacted our relationships too. People get divorced like it’s going out of style, so most of us have become desensitized to it.

  4. Interesting. I broke up with a guy because he had way too much trifling activity going on with his Facebook profile. He was flirting with chicks in his statuses and uploading sexy pictures of himself while we were supposed to be together. Needless to say, it was deuces for me. Facebook can be a bad thing, but if women were smart they’d use it to their advantage. Sometimes we can use it to figure out rather someone is worth our time or not. Kind of like a hipper background check.

    1. Honey!! Don’t even get me started on the Male Facebook Models! I don’t date guys who take sex photos of themselves and upload them on Facebook for the world to see. Any man who does this usually has a load of problems that I don’t have time for. You can’t expect a man to be faithful if he’s in love with himself more than he is in love with you!

  5. Of course people use Facebook to cheat, it’s convenient!!!! You don’t even have to go out and meet people anymore!!! Watch how people behave on the social networks before getting involved with them!!!!

  6. Men who aren’t monogamous, won’t be monogamous on Facebook. It’s really that simple. If we like to have additional chicks on the side, we will use Facebook to achieve that. I think we need to take our time when we get in these relationships and get to know individuals better before we even start to talk about marriage. You can’t come into a marriage or a relationship expecting someone to change and then base your entire relationship/marriage on that desired change that may not even happen.

    1. I agree but I also think another issue is people come into marriage feeling like divorce is an option if things get difficult. As a result, they don’t make it through the first few years. Ain’t nobody trying to work nothing out no more.

  7. I’m not really surprised by any of this. Think about it. Facebook is a bigger part of our lives than MySpace ever was. Now we take it everywhere we go (smartphones) and use it to connect with people we haven’t seen in years. Messiness was bound to happen as people got addicted to it.

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