Love & Relationships

Here’s the question of the day: Can Facebook ruin your marriage? Absolutely - according to the experts, one-third of all divorce petitions now contain the word “Facebook.” The top issues: Inappropriate messages to “friends” of the opposite sex, followed by cruel and nasty comments by one spouse about the other. And even when divorcing spouses “unfriend” each other, they often hear about their ex’s bad Facebook behavior through a mutual friend.

In fact, divorce attorney Marian Rose says she’s participated in depositions where attorneys pulled up people’s profiles as evidence, say, using a spouse’s page to prove infidelity, or scrolling through a child’s profile to suggest bad parenting. 

A lot of people are also using Facebook for “last straw” announcements. In other words, they’re tired of being in a “breaking-up, making-up” relationship cycle, and they want to end it once and for all. So, they post something so awful and hurtful on Facebook, for all the world to see, that their ex can’t possibly forgive them. 

Interestingly enough, an increasing number of couples have decided that Facebook is so dangerous to a healthy, happy relationship, that they’ve deactivated their accounts in order to protect their relationship. 

One couple we read about became so suspicious, distrustful, and jealous of comments posted on each other’s Facebook pages, that they started “stalking” each other’s profiles. And the only way they could salvage their relationship was to quit Facebook cold turkey. 

So, has Facebook caused problems in your relationship? Share your story, ironically, at facebook.com/JohnTesh.