Facebook is toxic. Not only because you see unsolicited life rants every time you scroll up, but because you can seriously hurt your relationship with it. One study suggests that the more time that you spend on social media, the higher the likelihood for break-up or divorce. At a distance, it may seem like an over-exaggeration. How can your simple liking and commenting be a threat to your marriage, right? Well, let’s break it down, shall we? Here are the specific ways your social media use can cause a rift between you and your spouse:
It can trigger infidelity.
On social media, you can easily reach out with family, friends, basically, anyone who’s on the platform, and you’re able to connect emotionally with them. This isn’t a bad thing entirely, but if you find yourself being deeply attached to online friends to the point of disclosing stuff you don’t freely share with your spouse, then you might want to rethink your motives and actions. What’s compelling you to be vulnerable with others and not your partner? Why do you feel the sudden urge to change apps when your spouse goes into the room unannounced? If you don’t ask these hard questions, your habit will quickly slide into other forms of secrecy, like chatting with an old flame or worse, meeting them in person. This starts the downward spiral into infidelity. If you’re contemplating about divorce because you found someone new or rekindled an old love, the court may look into your financial habits when determining property settlement. The judge’s decision might not look good for you if you wasted matrimonial assets to pursue this new partner.
It becomes a rant diary.
The pull of social media is that you can post whatever you feel. Pour your heart out, it says. But in a relationship, this ‘freewriting’ can pose a threat. If you rant about your relationship problems online, even indirectly, your spouse will surely not like it. They will feel disrespected. They will think that you’re shaming them publicly. The bottom line, it will start a fight. Now, if this goes on for a long time, it will put a dent in your marriage.
And interestingly, your divorce too, if ever. If you can’t keep your mouth shut now, there’s a good chance that you’ll be airing out the negativities in your divorce later. How your ex makes you a monster in the eyes of the kids. How you think the court sides with your partner unfairly. How bad lawyers are. And many more. All of these won’t help. According to practitioners of family law, Townsville-based attorneys, you may just be stacking up ammunition for your spouse to be used as evidence for their case. That’s why it’s never good to ‘pour your heart out’ on social. Pour your heart out to your partner instead. Make time, sit down, and talk about your problems.
It snatches away time supposedly spent with your partner.
Social media is a rabbit hole. One scroll into the timeline and you’ll see a friend or two who went to this super good travel destination, an exotic island. So you search where that place is, and then find out that there are budget fares going there. You book it and then search for blogs and vlogs to know which activities you should do. All of this feels like one brisk breeze through, but if you’d look at the time, you spent an hour or two already glued to your phone. All because of that single Instagram post of a friend. That hour could have been spent talking to your partner how their day was or what they want to do on the weekend. When using social media has become more fascinating and exciting than spending time with your spouse, it might gradually break your marriage. So go easy on your Facebook use. Install apps that would remind you to get off your phone, if necessary.
How’s Your Relationship with Social Media?
It may sound like a far-fetched idea for social media to cause a break-up, but it indeed can. Rethink your relationship with your tech devices, so you can better prioritise your marriage.
