It’s all fun and games…until Facebook breaks your heart

We all know the hype involved around Facebook and how adamant many people are about changing their status multiple times a day. The networking site is constantly growing in size as both the older and younger generation are joining in on the creep fest. What was unknown to me was the theory that Facebook is potentially causing more harm than good. Recently, I’ve come across multiple articles of so-called cheating via Facebook. WMUR has run an actual article on this subject matter which explains how Facebook.com is becoming a great source of trouble for many couples. The article goes into substantial detail on a New Hampshire woman whose husband connected with an old girlfriend via Facebook. This was when their 12 years of marriage instantly went down the drain. He asked for a divorce and thereafter admitted that Facebook was the origin of it all. A marriage counselor was quoted in this article. She stated that not a day goes by where a client doesn’t bring up the issue of Facebook. The reasons behind this phenomenon are quite clear. Stresses of work and/or school accumulate throughout the day. As a means to unwind at the end of the day, a lot of people will spend a few minutes on Facebook. “As couples struggle with the stress of life, work and children, communication can break down, and Facebook can become an escape.” (WMUR.com) The article talked about how modern technology makes it so easy to find people from your past. Before Facebook it was a lot harder to contact people you knew from, say, 10 or so years ago. Sites like Classmates.com make it more accessible to contact people but in order to get any information you must pay a usage fee. With Facebook being free for public use, it certainly interests people who want to reconnect. The WMUR site has had many comments on the article. My favorite most definitely was: “Lady, it was YOUR HUSBAND who stuck his RJ-45 cable in another woman’s ethernet port, not Facebook.” Fair enough. Another site, AskMen.com, is pouring out with over 130 posts on their own personal experiences with Facebook cheating. Both females and males (angry, hurt ones, I might add), post their feelings on the subject matter. They each have their own individualized story to tell, but in all of them somebody left someone else and the perpetrator is Facebook. My favorite comment on this site: “They also had ‘phone sex’ on X-box,” posted by another lost soul as a result of Facebook. What is ironic is this whole concept. Isn’t Facebook known for bringing people closer together? Whether it is childhood friends or long-lost family members, the site is helpful in creating virtual family reunions, and there is usually no harm there. Yet the site is currently being criticized for dragging people away from each other. In the articles mentioned, there were many comments by victims, as well as the ordinary people who think it is absurd to blame innocent ol’ Facebook. These people are the ones who say, “if somebody is going to cheat, they are going to cheat no matter what,” or, “if they aren’t going to cheat, then Facebook could not possibly make them cheat.” Well, that makes sense, right? Be your own judge. Facebook cheating, yay or nay?