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Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces In US

Posted by samzenpus on from the sanctity-of-a-friend-request dept.

An anonymous reader writes "yes, in theory if you're single, Facebook can help you meet that special someone. But for those in even the healthiest of marriages, improper use can quickly devolve into a marital disaster. A recent survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers found that Facebook is cited in one in five divorces in the United States. Also, more than 80 percent of divorce lawyers reported a rising number of people are using social media to engage in extramarital affairs."

10 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. What percentage use FB again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Saying that divorces are linked to Facebook is like saying car purchases are linked to internet usage.

    1. Re:What percentage use FB again? by sorak · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A better analogy is that divorces are linked to facebook in the same way divorces are linked to the telephone, or to strip clubs.

  2. It's just a part of peoples lives by dmomo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a common way for people to communicate. Facebook is going to be "linked to" everything as long as this is a fact.

    In other news:
    Facebook is linked to 50% of parties. Facebook is linked to 80% of weddings. Facebook is linked to 100% of political. Facebook is linked to 65% of friendships. Facebook is linked to 90% of people liking stuff.

    1. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by Nadaka · · Score: 5, Insightful

      One thing is more linked with divorce than anything else, marriage. 100% of divorces are caused by marriage.

    2. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by ThatMegathronDude · · Score: 3, Insightful

      death is cheaper :)

    3. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by treeves · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Marriage is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for divorce. Many (even a majority of) people who get married do not divorce.

      If the statistic is thrown around that 50% of marriages end in divorce, consider the many serial divorces, and realize that many people get married once and stay that way, to balance the numbers.
      Take a sample of three people: Joe, John and James.
      If Joe gets married and divorced three times, and John gets married once, and James gets married once, then five marriages have occurred, but three divorces. 60% divorce rate. But only 33% of that group got divorced.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  3. And this is news? by timholman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd be willing to bet that the use of the telephone (one of the greatest social inventions of all time) is linked to just about 100% of all divorces, as well.

    What is it with everyone trying to blame Facebook and Craigslist for all the ills of the world? They are tools, and nothing more. But they are new, and so I guess that makes them suspicious, doesn't it?

    1. Re:And this is news? by DerekLyons · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What is it with everyone trying to blame Facebook and Craigslist for all the ills of the world? They are tools, and nothing more. But they are new, and so I guess that makes them suspicious, doesn't it?

      I'd have thought people interested in technology would be interested in examining how that technology interacts in the real world. I mean, you don't find it interesting that social media is so widely implicated and in what that implies for it's impact on society and the changes as the wired generation reaches adulthood? The positive effects of social media on the current Jasmine Revolution(s) are widely examined and praised here on Slashdot, one would think that the negative effects would be equally interesting.

  4. It's not facebook's fault you're a jerk by adonoman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you're in one of the "healthiest of marriages", you're not going to be doing anything on facebook or elsewhere that's going to jeopardize your marriage. I'm not going to be an asshole in person, or online. If you think that something is OK online, but not in real life, then you've got problems.

  5. Outside influences by morcego · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Shouldn't people at some point stop blaming outside influences for their own failings ?

    I'm happily married. I'm a hardcore gamer, who spend a lot of time online. My wife hates computer games. We make it work fine.
    My daughter owns a notebook, spends a lot of time online. I don't have any kind of "network nanny" on her computer. So far, she hasn't committed mass murder in her school.

    Go be a husband/wife and a parent. Stop blaming outside influences, computers, games, TV etc for your own failings. Own up to it.

    Facebook don't force people to commit adultery. Videogames don't brainwash kids to murder other people. Deal with it.

    --
    morcego