Seattle Divorcee Says Facebook Ruined His Marriage

A Seattle man recently shared his story of divorce with KVAL.com – and unfortunately, it’s a story that is becoming more and more common across Washington State. The man, who was married for 20 years and has one child, says that the social networking site Facebook was reason that his relationship ended.

The man said that his wife began using the popular website to the point of addiction – and then befriended an ex-boyfriend from college. Soon, she was on the site for hours out of the day and would close her laptop when he approached. She also changed her passwords and started to text her old flame. The couple tried counseling, but the man soon hired a divorce attorney and ended his marriage.

It appears to be a national trend. The newest numbers has found that over 80 percent of divorce lawyers have used Facebook activity and messages in divorce cases  -- and more and more spouses are discovering affairs from activity on the internet and on mobile phones.

How can you help prevent Facebook from affecting your marriage?

•    Share passwords with your spouse.
•    Don’t “friend” old flames or send private messages to exes.
•    Keep your Facebook status as “married” or “in a relationship.”
•    Make sure you aren’t spending too much time on the social networking site.
•    Realize that your apparent need to reach out to someone in an intimate manner on Facebook may be a sign that you may need to work on your own relationship or seek counseling.