Any Seattle divorce attorney will tell you that there has been an increase in the number of divorces that mention Facebook as a factor. In fact, 80% of divorce attorneys in an American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers survey said that they had seen an increase in the number of divorce filings that cited social networking as one of the causes. A new survey out of the UK, confirms that approximately one-third of divorce filings were linked to the popular social networking site.
The survey was conducted by a British legal services firm, and found that more than one third of the divorce filings last year in the United Kingdom were linked to Facebook. The legal services reviewed a total of 5,000 divorce filings, and found that the popular social networking firm had been cited as a factor in about one-third of the cases. The most frequent factor that was cited for divorce was spouses exchanging inappropriate messages with Facebook users of the opposite sex.
Moreover, the results of this study showed an increase in the citing of Facebook as a divorce trigger from just 3 years earlier. In 2009, only about 20% of the divorce filings mentioned Facebook.
Facebook has made it quicker and easier for people to cheat on their spouses. In the days before Facebook, an affair, even an office romance, would’ve required days or weeks to take off. However on Facebook, flirting or starting a romance is just a matter of clicks. Moreover, Facebook has made it much easier for people to search out past loves, or search for people that they had met on a couple of occasions in the past. In short, Facebook simply makes it easier for people to act out on their temptations.
It should also not be so surprising to any Seattle divorce lawyer that so many people seem to be using the social networking site to vent about their ex-spouses after the divorce. The study found that many couples used the social networking website to badmouth their ex.
