Social Media Effects on Marriage

Social media, in the form of online networks and communities, message boards, video websites, and photograph websites (Instagram, etc.), have truly transformed our lives. Today, social media seems to be almost omnipresent, a constant force that affects our lives and influences our decision-making. For some people, in fact, social media presence has nearly eclipsed their social life outside of the online world. No matter how old-fashioned a person might be, very few Marylanders go about their lives today without at least some social media involvement. With this big change, we need to ask ourselves: how has social media impacted marriages? What effects can social media have on a marriage? Those are the questions we’re going to focus on today.

Social Media Requires Huge Demands on Time and Can Affect the Marriage

Social media places huge demands on time. This is true even for those users who make an effort to keep their social media activity to a minimum. As people, we are naturally social beings, and so the allure and power of social media are all too understandable. As long as social media engagement is kept within reasonable limits, marital quality shouldn’t be too negatively affected. But when a spouse spends too much time on social media and the temptation is powerful, problems may arise. Spouses can start to feel neglected, and marital quality can decline.

Social Media Can be an Avenue for Jealousy / Suspicion and Can Affect the Marriage

Another thing that appears to be fairly certain is that social media provides an avenue for jealousy and suspicion of infidelity within marriages. In some ways, this is a more or less natural side effect of using social media platforms, particularly those which focus on networking and making connections, such as Facebook. If one spouse is spending substantial quantities of time on a networking website and frequently adds contacts of the opposite sex, even the most secure partner is going to feel a bit jealous on occasion. And that same partner might also be suspicious at certain points. Perhaps this runs counter to the idea of marriage as an institution that promotes stability and honesty, but this is likely just the hard reality.

Social Media Presents Opportunities for Infidelity and Can Affect the Marriage

As unpleasant as it may be to discuss, social media also provides all sorts of opportunities for infidelity. Of course, any given marriage isn’t necessarily threatened with this type of thing, and simply because opportunities exist doesn’t mean that they will ever come to be anything. But the simple reality is that social media allows us to connect easily with others around us – business, contracts, friends, etc. – and this inevitably leads to more chances to commit infidelity. This is something that has been well-documented and noted by many personalities in the mainstream media. Again, will social media invariably cause infidelity? Of course not. But again, we’re talking about possibilities. There can be little doubt that social media gives more possibilities for this type of misbehavior.

Contact the Murphy Law Firm for More Information

Marylanders are no more insulated from these things than anyone else. So it’s not surprising that Marylanders have been equally affected by the rise of social media and its effects on marriage. If you’d like to learn more, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Murphy Law Firm today by calling 240-493-9116.