Anti-social networking
6th February 2009
Hearing today that a woman is claiming the first she knew about her impending divorce was when her husband updated his Facebook status, saying he was no longer married to her, has shocked me somewhat. I thought it was a bad show if one of my friends dumped their boyfriend of 3 months over the phone, by text was even worse – but now people are ending their marriages over a social network, that can be viewed by anyone (depending on the user’s security settings)? What is the world coming to?
The wife in question is obviously mortified, the husband’s excuse is that she already knew. Either way, it seems totally unnecessary for him to update his status to inform anyone of his marriage break up, is this the only way some people communicate?
I am a fan of social networks, they provide people with countless ways of keeping in touch, and having fun at the same time. I loved the quiz applications, where I could compete with my friends on how good my Sex and the City knowledge was (and yes, some who took part in these quizzes were men!). And it was a great way to bring everyone together for an event such a birthday, and share all the funny stories and photographs afterwards.
However, I do find that social networks are starting to replace the physical art of staying in touch. A few of my friends, who will obviously remain anonymous, believe that if they have thrown a custard pie at me (one of Facebook’s applications is called ‘Super Poke’, enabling you to throw something at people instead of saying hello) that week, they do not need to give me a call, or text to ask me how I am. As you might be able to tell, I am an advocate for meeting up with people to catch up.
Social media should be a valuable addition to how we already stay in touch, not a replacement for meeting up for a coffee or having that long phone call. A key life skill is being able to physically interact with people, make friends and/or work together, not to just send a message to someone’s online profile.
The news article about the couple’s relationship breakdown announced on Facebook is very significant, and I hope it does not set a presidence for other people thinking of ending their marriages to choose to do it that way. It was never the reason for the creation of social networks, and nor should it become so.
