Twitter and Facebook increasingly being cited in divorce papers
Why anyone is surprised by this tidbit of information is beyond me but it seems that a growing number of people are implicating social media services like Facebook and Twitter as part of the reason for their divorces.
According to a new study from Divorce Online the numbers are on the increase with Facebook being cited in 33% of “unreasonable behavior petitions” in 2011 which represents a rise of 13% over the service’s previous figures from 2009.
They arrived at this number by surveying a sample of 5,000 divorces where Facebook behavior with the opposite sex played an integral part of the divorce claims.
The top three reasons were:
1 – Inappropriate messages to members of the opposite sex
2 - Separated spouses posting nasty comments about each other
3 – Facebook friends reporting spouse’s behavior
Divorce Online’s spokesman had this to say about the numbers:
“Social networking has become the primary tool for communication and is taking over from text and e-mail in my opinion. If someone wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex then it’s the easiest place to do it. Also, the use of Facebook to make comments about ex-partners to friends has become extremely common with both sides using Facebook to vent their grievances against each other. People need to be careful what they write on their Walls as the courts are seeing these posts being used in financial disputes and children cases as evidence.”
via The Next Web
Don’t think that Twitter escaped being a scapegoat though as it showed up in 20 petitions also as part of spouse’s behavior as a reason for the divorce.
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Dec 30, 2011
I guess any excuse is as good as the next huh?
Dec 30, 2011
When there is a car accident, the car isn't to blame. The person driving is to blame. If people can't handle the access to social media then they shouldn't have a facebook account or twitter account.
Dec 30, 2011
Just stupid. You just don't put anything anywhere on FB, or in writing anywhere, that you don't want to see on the front page of the newspaper or whatever is the equivalent of that today.
Dec 30, 2011
I think people need to be very careful with friends of the opposite sex. I have seen something that started out as innocent chat, and it slowly turnered into a little more. Then flirting can easily start and is rationalized as he/she is just an old friend and is like a brother/sister to me. And if there is an old flame as a friend, well, I feel that is truely putting your marriage in a very dangerous place. I have known of several affairs that I think could have been avoided if the means were not so easy. Absolutely, facebook can be very dangerous to an otherwise good marriage.
Dec 30, 2011
yes, it makes those stupid dating sites too convienient, it's just too easy to use them especially for a spouse that already looks around, all they have to do is allow access to the app and they're free to look around, or arange a meeting with whom ever they want, with whoever they want, and if they think the spouse does'nt know they're wrong, fb posts all these things in one way or another. So anyone that think's they are being discrete might be surprised at what the spouses or other family members are seeing that they are doing.