Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces In US

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces In US

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday March 1, 2011 @05:05AM 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."

22 of 292 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

What percentage use FB again? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-03-01 05:07 · 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 croddy · 2011-03-01 05:34 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The methodology is worse than that; I ran across this statistic a couple of weeks ago and tracked it down through some hellish chain of blog posts and it turns out that the way this was determined was searching a list of divorce court documents for the word "Facebook" and about 20% matched the string. Any divorce filing containing the string "Facebook" was coded as a divorce linked to Facebook.
  The most encouraging thing about this is that it sort of indicates that Facebook has only infiltrated about 20% of marriages.
2. Re:What percentage use FB again? by sorak · 2011-03-01 06:57 · 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.
3. Re:What percentage use FB again? by Maxo-Texas · 2011-03-01 08:13 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Have to blow my mods on this one.
  Turns out Lesbians have a much higher divorce rate than gay males.
  So Females are involved in over 50% of divorces. (- hehe, it's a fact!)
  I speculate that Females are much more likely to "pull the trigger" when unhappy than men are. This may be because of their emotional state or it could be the divorce laws favor them. In any case, Females also initiate the majority of straight marriages too.
  
  --
  She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
4. Re:What percentage use FB again? by realityimpaired · 2011-03-01 08:40 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  There's a joke in the community that seems rather apt....
  Q: What does a lesbian bring on the second date?
  A: A moving van.
  Sad, but true. At least in my experience... relationships do move pretty fast. Not going to turn this into a men vs. women like you seem to be trying to do, but in my experience, women do tend to be a lot less restrained emotionally than men are. Perhaps that's the reason... but I would shy away from using the word "volatile" if you know what's good for you. :)
It's just a part of peoples lives by dmomo · 2011-03-01 05:10 · 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 Toe,+The · 2011-03-01 05:15 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  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.
  Parties, weddings, politics, friendships, and people liking stuff are... all linked to divorce.
2. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by Nadaka · 2011-03-01 05:24 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  One thing is more linked with divorce than anything else, marriage. 100% of divorces are caused by marriage.
3. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by ThatMegathronDude · 2011-03-01 05:56 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  death is cheaper :)
4. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by Dusty101 · 2011-03-01 06:13 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Once again, kiddies: Correlation does not imply causation!
  Actually, at the risk of being identified as pedantic, correlation does not *automatically* imply causation. It might, however, still suggest it.
  I still agree with the gist of the parent & grandparent posts' point regarding this particular story, though.
5. Re:It's just a part of peoples lives by treeves · 2011-03-01 09:07 · 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.
And this is news? by timholman · 2011-03-01 05:10 · 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 · 2011-03-01 05:29 · 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.
So this would be like email, fifteen years ago? by KublaiKhan · 2011-03-01 05:11 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm fairly sure there were stories like this going around when email became popular, and people started using it to, y'know, communicate with each other.

Before that, cellphones--telephones--hell, I bet even the telegraph was implicated in adultery.

(WHAT.ARE.YOU.WEARING.STOP
SIX.SKIRTS.HOOPS.CRINOLINE.BUSTLE.CHEMISE.HAT.STOP
NO.GLOVES.YOU.NAUGHTY.WENCH.STOP)

And back before that, it was letters.

Anything people have ever used to communicate has been implicated in adultery, because that's sort of how to set up a liason, ain't it?

--
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
320 Lawyers Like This by dmomo · 2011-03-01 05:11 · Score: 5, Funny

[thumbs up icon]
It's not facebook's fault you're a jerk by adonoman · 2011-03-01 05:12 · 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.
1. Re:It's not facebook's fault you're a jerk by Anonymous+Monkey · 2011-03-01 05:38 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  It's not quite that simple. Adults tend to become attached to the person of the opposite sex that they spend the most time with. Before facebook and e-mail it was fairly obvious to see who you were spending time with. Now we have tools that make it unnecessary to be physically with some one to feel like you are with them. This can be deceptive for everyone involved. It starts with "I'm not cheating on my wife, I'm must checking an old girlfriends facebook page." But ends up with more personal conversations being had over facebook than in real life with your wife. And it's more deceptive than letters, because if you are writing letters you must get out paper, a pen, an envelope and a stamp, sit down and write, making it obvious how much time you are investing. However, for many people facebook is only as far away as alt-tab, so the amount of time you spend on it isn't as obvious.
  
  --
  We are the Borg...
And how many are linked to cars? by perpenso · 2011-03-01 05:12 · Score: 3, Informative

Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces In US
And how many are linked to cars (*), another tool used by those who have decided to be unfaithful?

Yet another time for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation.

(*) Hey, dumb stories demand a car analogy. :-)
1. Re:And how many are linked to cars? by vux984 · 2011-03-01 05:47 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  My wife signed up to facebook breifly, "friended" a few friends and family, and within a day or two had old boyfriends and male acquaintances trying to get in touch with her to chat etc... it was vaguely unsettling really. I'm sure some were happily adjusted in their own lives and were just interested in catching up... but it was pretty clear some of them were looking to hook up.
  Its pretty easy to see how that can get out of hand.
  It even seems to be a likely outcome of joining facebook from what I've seen.
  And to rebutt your car analogy -- nothing like that happens you buy a new car. I'll concede that cars are also tools that are used by the unfaithful, but the car doesn't have all your exboyfriends in the backseat when you buy it.
UNPOSSIBLE! Doesn't fit the narrative. by NevarMore · 2011-03-01 05:16 · Score: 4, Funny

I thought it was the homosexuals that were a threat to my marriage? You can't possibly get me to accept that now its the Internet and the Facebook that are the real barrier to matrimonial bliss.
Lets be honest, the usual cause of most divorces is the two people in the marriage.
Outside influences by morcego · 2011-03-01 05:18 · 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
Re:Your High School Sweetheart V1.0 is now availab by Nadaka · 2011-03-01 05:25 · Score: 5, Funny

Warning: Virus Detected