Does Facebook Cause Cheating?

Couples looking to sustain a healthful romantic relationship should avoid Facebook, because spending excessive time on Facebook may cause negative interpersonal relationship outcomes, according to a report in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.
“The results indicate that a high level of Facebook usage is associated with negative relationship outcomes, and that these relationships are indeed mediated by Facebook-related conflict,” the report says, according to GMA News.

Psychologist and relationship expert Dr. Ramani Durvasula told CBS Los Angeles that some people use Facebook to “act out” by engaging in inappropriate relationships and end up cheating with an ex, old friend, or someone they just met casually.

“Now you can find them in a late night search — bang bang, put their name in and there they are,” Durvasula told CBS. “And then so it starts a little bit of liking, a little bit of flirting, and something that seems so harmless to start with escalates like wildfire.”

Facebook played a major role last year in the relationship of Ivan Lewis and Sonya Gore. The couple married in February of 2010, but Lewis claims that he began cheating soon after the wedding, which led to a 10-month separation.

In September 2013, Lewis posted an image of himself holding a handwritten note on his Facebook page, saying, “I Cheated On My Wife!!! (and she was ugly!!!).”

Gore told NewsOne that she ordered Lewis to post the note because he wanted to reconcile with her. Before making a decision, however, she wanted him to feel the pain and humiliation she felt and forced him to post the note to the social media site. Additionally, Lewis needed to reach 10,000 likes onFacebook before she would take him back. At last count back in September, he had 15,511 likes!

And in response to a comment that criticized the effort on Sept. 27, 2013, which called the reconciliation method messy, Gore wrote:

“Thanks for your opinion as you can tell i [sic] dont [sic] care what u think one love.”

That’s modern day love on Facebook for you!

The good news is that the social networking site impacts only “relatively newer relationships of three years or less,” the report says. The study could also lead to findings of whether Facebook is a contributor to “the divorce rate, emotional cheating, and physical cheating,” the report says.

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