Social media has opened up many people’s spheres to include “friends” and “followers” they wouldn’t meet in their everyday lives. Many of our social media relationships are with people we’ve never met in person — or ever will. They may be with people who live across the country or halfway around the world. We may connect over shared political views or a shared love of The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones.
One divorce attorney says that these social media connections are also contributing to the end of a lot of marriages. He says, “I can’t remember the last time I had a case where social media was not either a root cause or implicated in some way.”
This can happen for a lot of reasons. Of course, online relationships can become real relationships if people live in close proximity. It’s also easy to reconnect with old boyfriends and girlfriends online.
Sometimes, people see the lives that other people are seemingly leading and realize that something’s missing in their own relationship or begin to wish for the single life. The attorney notes. “We curate carefully what we put up there [on social media sites]. So if I’m in a vulnerable, lonely, bored place looking at everyone else’s curated greatest hits, of course I’m going to think….my relationship isn’t as interesting as everyone else’s, or as happy as everyone else’s.”
He also asserts that while many divorcing couples cite large issues such as a spouse’s infidelity or their hiding of financial problems as the reason for their break-up, it’s often “a succession of smaller choices that people make that take them further and further away from each other.”
If you believe that divorce may be in your future, it’s best to be prepared. With experienced legal guidance, you can determine what assets and debts you and your spouse have and think about what your priorities are if and when the marriage ends. This can help you better work towards a settlement that will help you be in a strong position to move on with your life.
