One In Seven Divorces Caused By Social Media, Is Your Marriage In Trouble?
A new survey by Censuswide shows that one in seven divorces are caused by social media.
A Chicago, Illinois woman named Shari admitted that her addiction to Facebook, spending a minimum of five hours each day on the social media site, led to the end of her marriage, according to CBS Chicago.
“I was spending sometimes 4 or 5 hours a day…when I should have been cooking dinner or reading to my kids or watching a movie with my husband or just talking to my husband.”
While she was attempting to build up her event-planning business, she managed to acquire 5,000 Facebook friends and over a thousand followers. Eventually, she started making contact with old friends, and old boyfriends, which did not sit well with her husband.
“Okay so you dated this guy… and you’re friends with him? And you’re messaging him?”
Shari’s obsession with social media eventually led to the demise of their relationship. While she claims she is working on her addiction, as far as her marriage goes, it is too late.
“Believe it or not, I went almost a whole two weeks without really looking at it or posting anything. I kept pulling my hair and biting my nails.”
This is not uncommon, and a growing number of couples are contributing their relationship problems directly to social media. As the survey suggested, one in seven marriages will end in divorce based solely on social media, and as shocking as this sounds, divorce lawyer Christine Svenson says she thought the number would be higher.
“‘Till death do us part’ was easier before Facebook: Study shows social media can be a homewrecker” #divorce http://t.co/Sg0BOxpy8D
— Stephen diFilipo (@S_dF) May 2, 2015
“That sounds very low to me to be honest,” Svenson said. “The social media seems to crop up in at least half of my divorce cases.”
Another study, commisioned by Slater and Gordon Lawyers, found the same results. They questioned 2,000 married Britons and discovered many couples claim they would consider divorce based on their spouses behavior on sites such as Facebook, Snapchat, Skype, What’sApp, and Twitter.
One in four of the married couples admitted they had fights over social media usage at least one a week, with 17 percent saying they had arguments at least once a day.
According to Newsday, “one-fifth of those surveyed admitted doubting the strength of their relationship after discovering something hidden in their spouse’s Facebook account; one-third said they kept passwords hidden from their significant others.” However, 58 percent said they knew their spouses passwords, even if their spouses had no idea.
Do you find the results of the survey shocking? Leave your comments below.
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