The news just keeps coming, but no one seems to be listening. Social media is bad for marriage. And it is not great for people divorcing either.
One in seven married people said they have considered divorce because of their spouses’ behavior on popular social media sites and apps like Facebook, Snapchat, Skype, What’sApp, and Twitter according to a British study.
Almost a quarter of those polled by an English law firm said they had at least one argument a week related to their spouse’s social media use, with 17 percent admitting they fought about it every day.
The most disconcerting news is that 14 percent of those polled acknowledged that they specifically looked for evidence of infidelity. Sadly, they are finding it.
I have warned several times in this blog that divorce lawyers mine social media sites for ammunition to be used in the divorce. 81 percent of divorce attorneys surveyed by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers said they have seen an increase in the number of cases using social networking evidence.
But it is not just the content of the social sites causing marital discord. The very fact that spouses are spending time- large amounts of time- on these sites is one of the major reasons for marital arguments.
It seems that people just cannot contain themselves, despite all warnings, and just stay off social media, particularly during their divorce. Because of that, I am considering having my clients sign an acknowledgment that I warned them to stay off Facebook and other social media sites during the divorce. If clients want to shoot themselves in their foot, they can’t say I didn’t warn them.
