社交網站成婚姻殺手

It used to be the tell-tale lipstick on the collar. Then there were the give-away texts that spelled the death knell for many marriages.

But now one in five divorces involve the social networking site Facebook, according to a new survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

A staggering 80 per cent of divorce lawyers have also reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating.

Facebook was by far the biggest offender, with 66 per cent of lawyers citing it as the primary source of evidence in a divorce case. MySpace followed with 15 per cent, Twitter at 5 per cent and other choices lumped together at 14 per cent.

The survey reflects the findings of a UK law firm last year showing that 20 per cent of its divorce petitions blamed Facebook flings.

‘The most common reason seemed to be people having inappropriate sexual chats with people they were not supposed to,’ said Mark Keenan, managing director of Divorce-Online.

Friends Reunited faced similar claims when it was launched to help people reconnect with old classmates, but the 23 million plus people now using Facebook in Britain means it is having a much bigger effect on rising divorce rates.

‘Desperate Housewives’ star Eva Longoria recently split from her basketball player husband Tony Parker after alleging that he strayed with a woman he kept in touch with on Facebook.

‘Going through a divorce always results in heightened levels of personal scrutiny. If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence,’ said American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers President Marlene Eskind Moses.

‘As everyone continues to share more and more aspects of their lives on social networking sites, they leave themselves open to much greater examinations of both their public and private lives in these sensitive situations,’ she added.

Marriage counsellor Terry Real said he believes some users go on Facebook to create a fantasy life and escape the drudgery. But he said Facebook is not really to blame.

‘Before it was email, then before that it was the phone. The problem is not Facebook, it is the loss of love in your marriage,’ he said.

過去，妻子可能從衣領的脣印發現丈夫出軌。後來，泄密短信也成爲諸多婚姻解體的導火索。

而據美國婚姻律師學會的最新調查，如今五分之一的離婚案件與社交網站Facebook有關。

令人吃驚的是，80%的離婚案律師也彙報稱利用社交媒體蒐集出軌證據的案例猛增。

Facebook目前已成爲婚姻破裂的罪魁禍首。66%的律師將其作爲離婚案的主要取證來源。其次是MySpace，佔15%。微博“推特”排在第三，佔5%。其它取證來源的總和僅佔14%。

這項調查與英國一家律師事務所去年開展的另一項調查結果一致，兩者都把20%離婚訴訟的起因歸結於Facebook引發的婚外情。

離婚在線公司的總經理馬克•基南說：“最常見的離婚理由似乎是人們在聊天時與不合適的對象討論性方面的話題。”

“校友重聚”網站在建立之初也面臨類似指責，該網站旨在幫助人們與老同學重建聯繫，但英國Facebook用戶超過2300萬人這一事實意味着它對不斷高企的離婚率影響更大。

《絕望主婦》女星伊娃•朗格利亞指控丈夫與一名在Facebook上聯絡的女子有染，最近與籃球明星丈夫託尼•帕克分手。

美國婚姻律師學會會長馬琳•愛思金德•摩斯說：“離婚過程通常會招致對配偶更嚴格的監視。如果你在社交網站上公開發布了一些與自己此前的言談或承諾不符的話語，已分居的配偶當然會首先注意到這一點，並且拿來當證據。”

她補充說：“由於大家不斷在社交網站上與他人共享生活的更多方面，在離婚這一敏感時期，人們的公衆生活和私生活也就將面臨更嚴格的考驗。”

婚姻諮詢顧問特里•里爾認爲，Facebook的部分用戶是爲了脫離現實的沉悶，創造幻想生活才上網的，但他表示不應該把婚姻破裂的原因歸罪於Facebook。

他說：“之前我們怪電子郵件，再之前怪電話。問題不在於Facebook，而在於你婚姻裏的愛已經消逝。”

Vocabulary:

tell-tale: that reveals or betrays what is not intended to be known（泄密的，搬弄是非的）

death knell: a harbinger of the end, death, or destruction of something（死亡的徵兆，預示毀滅的事件，結束信號）

fling: 短暫的風流韻事

stray: to go astray; deviate, as from a moral, religious, or philosophical course（有外遇，沾花惹草）