Social media is an increasing contributary factor in divorce, lawyers report

The last decade has seen the rapid growth of the digital world, where social media has become a fundamental asset in our everyday lives. However, it has also become an increasing factor when filing for divorce, says Andrew Ormrod, Senior Associate and Family Law Solicitor at Slater and Gordon.

“There is now a window where communication can be made with anyone and anywhere” Andrew adds. “Nowadays, it is common for relationships to develop through online methods such as social media and dating apps, compared to 10 to 15 years ago.”

Consequently, relationships also come to an end due to online activities.

The law firm recently unveiled divorce insights at the start of the year, to further understand the reasonings behind the breakdown of marriages. The research was conducted with 2000 participants across the UK and found that a lack of communication was a reason for a third of marriages coming to an end.

The insights brought into question how much social media creates challenges for married couples.

“Constant interaction or engagement with social media can unfortunately lead to suspiciousness, disengagement or distancing between married couples” says Andrew.

Whilst lack of communication was the third most popular reason for divorce, it was further revealed that the main reason for participants ending their marriage was due to extramarital affairs. 38 per cent of those divorced or in the process of a divorce had been subject to their partner’s affair.

“Extra martial affairs can take many forms, from physical to online affairs,” Andrew comments.

“In the instance of online affairs, the breakdown of marriage had started when their significant other had showed a lack of interest, spent excessive time online or even removing themselves for privacy, ultimately finding their significant other were emotionally involved with another”.

Extramarital affairs could further include the act of messaging other people outside their relationship or engaging in dating apps, further suggesting social media as a participating factor towards divorce.

The second most common reason was found that 34 per cent of divorcees had unfortunately ‘fallen out of love’ with their spouse.

With the rise of no-fault divorce in 2022, filing for divorce is much more accessible and removes the need to place blame on either party. However, Andrew agrees that social media still has emerged in causing issues in marriages, causing relationships to breakdown.

“Because the reason or ground for divorce is now ‘no-fault divorce’, divorce solicitors do not tend to delve into extensive questioning as to the reasons for the breakdown in the relationship; yet social media continues to crop up in conversation as to why the relationship ultimately broke down.”