As reported by FOXNews.com, some marriage counselors
claim that social media sites are promoting separations and
divorces among 40 and 50-year old surfers. The reason? Bored middle
age folks are using it to search for that elusive lost love or
childhood sweetheart…and they’re finding them, ready, willing and able.
How serious is the problem? According to a UK-based divorce firm, 20% of the divorce petitions it processed last year pointed to Facebook as playing a role. And it’s not just trysts that have observers
worried. According to Elly Robinson, manager of the Australian
Family Relationship Clearing House, social media sites are harming
marriages when spouses don’t see eye-to-eye on their partner’s
online behavior. “People will come in (for counseling)
where one partner may deny their online behavior has been any
sort of problem,” Robinson noted, “but the issue is … if it’s
upsetting one of those people in the relationship, it’s a
problem.” She also added that there was a general lack of research
on the effect of social media and online behavior on
relationships.
However, experts like
Relationship Australia vice president Anne Hollonds caution against
accusing social media as the root of this new, web 2.0
relationship evil. “The Internet doesn’t make people have
affairs,” she said. “It’s become the pathway of choice for many
people, but I don’t think that means the Internet is breaking up
families…there’s no evidence to suggest that had the technology not
been available, [people] wouldn’t have had an affair with someone else anyway.”
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