Are you that person who posts Facebook status updates on the hour and Twitter updates every 15 minutes? Do you search daily for new smart phone apps? Do you like standing in line at your local electronic store waiting to be the first person to buy the next big tech thing? Well then, you just might be a tech junkie.
Studies have shown technology, though useful, has contributed to the end of personal relationships. Smart phones, electronic tablets, computers and social media, namely Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, have become addictions and distractions contributing to the avoidance of meaningful face-to-face interaction with spouses and children.
Facebook, more than any other social media site, was linked to an increase in divorce rates. A study by researchers at Cornell University reported in October 2013, found Facebook users who had 50 to 2,000 “friends” had a romantic partner or spouse listed in their profile.
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) conducted a survey on social networking February 2013 in which 81 percent of divorce attorneys said they have witnessed a rise in the number of divorce cases over the past five years that involved social media. The respondents named Facebook as the primary culprit.
Shaky Marriages in Arizona
With Arizona enacting new laws last year regarding parenting time, Tucson family lawyers have been busy helping fathers arrange for more time to be with their children and have more say in their lives. At the same time, family lawyers in Tucson have been handling more divorce cases now that statistics show Arizona is among the top states in the country with high divorce rates.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey of 2009 statistics, nearly 1 out of 1,000 men and 12 out of 1,000 women in Arizona had gotten a divorce during the previous year. These figures are higher than the national average of nine men and 10 women per 1,000.
The census report did not give technology or social media as reasons for the high divorce rate, but both have taken a toll on personal relationships.
Find Alternatives Uses for Technology
Rather than use your devices for your own pleasure, use them to bring you closer to your family. For instance, help your children with their homework by using educational apps. You can also set up a Facebook family page for your wife and kids to post status updates on the same page (It’s okay if your teenager wants to keep his or her own page). In this way, you are using Facebook together as a family.
There will be times when you will need to turn off your technology altogether and take your wife and children out for some fun activities. This means going “mobile,” but in a different sort of way. Keeping active is not only healthy, but it deepens your relationship by talking more and “bonding” with your wife and children.
Rather than use technology and social media to create a secret life and divorce yourself from the “real world,” use them to bring you and your family closer together. Your spouse and children will be grateful that you put them first.
Domonique Powell has often said social media is a double-edged sword especially in family life. This online businesswoman and mother of three was in danger of losing her loved ones, so engrossed she was in being on the web to keep her business afloat. A few family lawyers in Tucson provided valuable information for this article, which also saved her household.
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