There are many reasons as to why Facebook causes marriages to end. Social Networking makes it easier to cheat on someone. In an article by CNN, it was discovered that 81% of divorce attorneys have seen an increase in the number of cases that involve social networking and cheating. The divorce rate has also been proven to increase since Facebook originated. Using a social networking site, it can be as simple as typing in someone’s name and instantly have the access to talk to that person, whether it is an ex or a friend. Another way that these sites have made it easier to cheat is the way they are able to match people together. Facebook has a page devoted to people that you might know or be interested in based off of common interests. Even though Facebook has all of these features, can it cause someone to cheat? In short, the answer is yes. A recent survey by Divorce-Online of more than 5,000 divorce petitions says Facebook is mentioned in about twenty percent of divorce cases. As an opposing point of view, it is difficult to erase memories, and because of this a lot of relationships can be, and often are saved. However, this is not true as often times couples simply delete these posts and move on. Many people believe that putting the past beside them is a fairly easy thing to do. Deleting posts and pages is also fairly simple. Some people ask if there is ever a circumstance where social media should be allowed. Well, a lot of spouses reportedly share a Facebook account. Information can still be hidden.
Information on Facebook can easily be hidden from spouses. There are multiple things that can be done that make it easy to hide posts. For example, a relatively new feature on Facebook allows certain posts to be hidden from particular people, so it would be very easy to hide a post from a spouse. The Facebook and Twitter messaging system has also gotten more complex, and messages can now be hidden or password protected. Being angry at a spouse can cause someone to do things they may regret later. Even though the problems come during a relationship, information from Facebook can be used against a spouse afterwards, making the break-up all that much easier.
Information on a spouse’s behavior can assist in a divorce case. In an article by the Huffington Post, Christine Marchetti, a lawyer from Toronto University, talks about how in the case of a cheating spouse, information learned on Facebook and other social networking sites can certainly be a catalyst for the end of a marriage or other relationship. A lot of information can be learned from this and used against somebody. Social networking can go way beyond assisting people to uncover whether or not someone has a cheating spouse. Avoiding Facebook all together in the situation of a cheating spouse would not cause many problems.
