Facebook Now Mentioned in More Than One-Third of Divorces

Facebook is, if you’ve used it for any particular length of time, clearly a new battleground for airing grievances, hinting at slights or resentments or otherwise allowing people to indirectly say things they may not have had the courage to say directly to the face of a loved one of friend- so it’s probably not surprising that now fully one-third of divorces mention the social network in filings.

As recently as a year or two ago, Facebook was a culprit or contributing factor in one-fifth of divorces, divorce lawyers reported. But now as it becomes more prominent, it seems many more people are citing Facebook as at least one of the reasons their union headed to splitstown in the official record.

And again, we’re faced with the new question of whether Facebook ends marriages, or whether the social network just often serves to throw the match on a gasoline-drenched union, enabling the flames to rise up and burn it all down.

As for whether the role of Facebook in divorces is common, it’s difficult to measure. But the Wall Street Journal quoted a divorce lawyer in Connecticut as confirming that Facebook is becoming ever prominent as a reason marriages break up:

“‘I see Facebook issues breaking up marriages all the time,’ says Gary Traystman, a divorce attorney in New London, Conn. Of the 15 cases he handles per year where computer history, texts and emails are admitted as evidence, 60% exclusively involve Facebook.”

The previous stat of 20% and new one of about 33% both came via UK company Divorce-Online, which measured divorce data in a survey.