Facebook as the cause of infidelity is on the rise. Why you ask? Remember the whole purpose of Facebook is to get or have “Friends”. It is now possible with the click of a mouse to reconnect with long lost loves, old flames or exes.
What may start out innocently enough as chatting, becomes flirting, becomes emotional cheating, becomes infidelity. Facebook makes it so easy to develop a relationship online. This can and often does lead to the desire to move the relationship to a face to face one.
A wife begins chatting with an old flame she discovered on Facebook. At first she just wants to catch up and be friends. Then the man begins flirting and telling her he still has feelings for her. She is flattered and pleased by the attention. It makes her feel good. She is stimulated and excited. She finds the feeling addictive and they take the chatting offline. Eventually they agree to meet. What began as an online reconnect has now blossomed into a full-fledged affair.
The reasons for this include boredom, excitement, titillation, attempting to recapture lost love. Whatever the reason Facebook facilitates more and more infidelity and divorces.
“Eighty-one percent of divorce lawyers say that the use of social media evidence in divorce cases has increased significantly in the last five years. Facebook lead the pack, followed by MySpace and Twitter.”
From “Infidelity From Facebook Cheating” by Dr. Frank Gunzburg, Marriage Counselling and Marriage Help.
Women are cheating as much or more than men says Michelle Langley, author of “Women’s Infidelity”. She goes on to state, “women’s relationships today follow a predictable pattern.
- They push men for commitment
- They get what they want
- They lost interest in sex
- They become attracted to someone else
- They start cheating
- They become angry and resentful
- They begin telling partners that they need time apart
- They blame their partners for their behavior….and eventually, after making themselves and everyone around them miserable for an indefinite, but usually long period of time, they end their relationships or marriages.”
Infidelity has always been around, but with modern technology has become easier. Facebook is now the preferred method of cheating.
The old saying, “the grass is greener on the other side” drives men and women to be constantly searching for something better. It’s harder to stay in a marriage and do the work to make it better, than it is to logon to Facebook and find something new, which may or may not be better. The easy way is a cop-out in this writer’s opinion.
I was raised to take the marriage vow, “I do promise to take you for better or for worse, in sickness or in health, til death do us part” seriously. Many spouses today stay in the marriage only “til Facebook do us part.”
Photo Credit
Microsoft Office Clipart Collection
Previously Published on Writings & Ramblings (the author’s blog)
Guest Author Bio
Steve B. Davis
Steve Davis is a freelance writer and researcher. He calls Calgary, Alberta home. Davis writes nonfiction and fiction. He is working on a nonfiction book related to the 1920’s. His work has been published in mainstream and philatelic magazines.
He is employed full-time in the energy industry at the present time, but retirement is looming. He then plans to pursue his writing full-time. His other interests include postal history and genealogy. Steve is a do-it-again dad with five children, four daughters and a son.
Blog / Website: http://stamperdad.wordpress.com
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Social media may make it easier to reconnect with people from your past but it seems to me that the core issue here is people of both sexes giving up on marriage. Why? Part of the reason, which you touched upon, is that a large segment of the population maintains that there is nothing wrong with adultery. I’ve even heard it argued that because it is condemned in the Ten Commandments, any move to discourage adultery through the legal system violates the separation of church and state and is somehow un-American. But that does not explain why so many people are so dissatisfied with their relationships, legal marriages or otherwise.