Facebook and Cheating Relationships
The world of social media has brought about a variety of effects in the contemporary world. For example, there are have been positive interactions to negative implications of obsession and misuse of the media. The effects of the social media have seen a dramatic change in the lifestyles of many socially active individuals; effects that have infiltrated their social lives as well as their family relations. The increased interactions on the social media have led to social media dating and other activities that have extended to romantic relationships leading and as result leading cheating in relationships. This observation has been supported by various studies that have indicated excessive use of Facebook has a negative impact on relationships as it encourages cheating among the partners.
The Method
According to the Journal Article of Cyberpsychology, titled âBehaviour and Social Networkingâ by (Phys.Org, 2013) the continuance use of Facebook may result into cheating among the partners in relationships. In the article, Alexander Lagurney, Clayton and Jessica Smith, conducted a study that found that excessive use of Facebook among couples can lead to Facebook-related conflicts. As a result, these conflicts leads to negative relationships consequences such as the cheating, divorce, breakups among others.
The study targeted Facebook users of the age 18 to 82 years, and the participants were asked to describe how frequently they use Facebook and the rate at which they have conflict any time they use Facebook with their partners or the previous partners. The survey aimed at establishing the rate of effects that Facebook can cause among the romantic partners, which impacts their association negatively. The survey also aimed at establishing the rate at which Facebook users are affected by the effects of social media use that can cause rifts among the family members.
Findings
The survey found out that couples who frequently used Facebook had a higher chance of falling into Facebook-related conflicts that arose as a result irresponsible usage. The survey also found out that the conflicts resulted in the cultivation of bad relationship among the couples that leads to serious implications such as break-ups, divorces, cheating and other family conflicts. The study notes that these trends are more common in newer relationships. The findings concentrated on the couples in the relationships of three years or less.Discussion
The prevalence of cheating cases as a result of excessive, irresponsible use of Facebook among other social media has been on the rise. It is easier to admit that too much involvement on Facebook can easily lead to grounding of the relationship. In the survey, Clayton also noted that the newer relationships are, the more affected. On the other hand, previous studies have illustrated that the more an individual is in a romantic association and engages in the excessive use of Facebook; the more likely they are to monitor their partnersâ use of social media as well. Clayton further noted that the threats of excessive use of Facebook are most likely to be devastating on the immature and young relationships than the established, mature and older relationships.
On the simple way of preventing the prevalence of cheating cases as a result of Facebook; Clayton advises especially the newer relationships to minimize their use of Facebook. He asserts that Facebook might be a useful tool for learning more about someone, but its excessive use leads to temptations and undesirable consequences. It is, therefore, a reality that indeed Facebook can lead to cheating among couples, and minimizing on its usage mainly on the primary stages of the relationship is the best way of mitigating the social media problems in relationships.