Facebook and Twitter now a factor in one in seven divorces

 

Facebook and Twitter have become a significant threat to marriage – with social media now a factor in an increasing number of divorce cases, say lawyers.

律师称，在越来越多的离婚案件中，脸书和推特等社交媒体已成为严重威胁婚姻存续的一个因素。

 

One in seven married individuals have considered divorce because of their spouse’s postings of Facebook or other online sites, according to research.

根据研究，七分之一的已婚人士曾因配偶发在脸书或其他网站上的帖子考虑过离婚。

 

A similar proportion admit that they search online for evidence of their partner’s infidelity, while nearly one in five say they have daily rows because of the way their husband or wife uses social media.

类似比例的人承认，他们曾在网上寻找伴侣不忠的证据；近五分之一的人表示，夫妻二人每天都会因为彼此在社交媒体上的所作所为而吵架。

 

The research was commissioned by law firm Slater and Gordon in response to an increase in the number of its clients who said that Facebook, Skype, Snapchat, Twitter, What’sApp or other social media sites had played a part in their divorce.

该研究是由“斯莱特和戈登”律师事务所委托相关机构做出的。“斯莱特和戈登”发现越来越多的客户声称，他们之所以离婚，与脸书、Skype（网络电话）、Snapchat（照片分享应用）、推特和What’sApp（移动消息应用）等社交媒体有很大关系，于是该律所发起了这个调查。

 

Andrew Newbury, of Slater and Gordon, said: ‘Five years ago Facebook was rarely mentioned in the context of a marriage ending, but now it has become commonplace.

“斯莱特和戈登”律所的安德鲁·纽伯里说：“五年前，婚姻破裂的原因中几乎不会提到脸书，现在脸书已经变成司空见惯的理由了。”

 

‘Social media is the new marriage minefield. Social media, specifically pictures and posts on Facebook, are now being routinely raised in divorces.’ 

“社交媒体成为新的婚姻雷区。社交媒体，尤其是脸书上的图片和帖子，现在经常在离婚案件中被提起。”

 

The survey by Censuswide among 2,011 husbands and wives, found the most common reasons for checking their spouse’s social media accounts was to discover who they were talking to, who they were meeting and where they were going.

Censuswide对2011位丈夫和妻子进行了该项调查，发现他们会查看配偶的社交账号，主要是想看看他/她到底常跟谁聊天、最近在见谁以及外出时都去了哪儿。

 

A quarter of the married people said the resulting suspicions led to rows at least once a week, and 17 per cent said such rows were daily events.

四分之一的已婚人士表示，这种怀疑产生的结果就是两人每周都要至少吵一次架，而17%的人每天都会因此跟配偶吵起来。

 

Arguments were provoked by contact with former partners, by the sending of secret messages, and by the posting of ‘inappropriate’ pictures.

暗地里跟前任联系、发布“不合适的”照片等都可能引发争吵。

 

Some 14 per cent said they looked at their spouse’s social media with the specific intention of detecting evidence of adultery. 

14%的人表示，他们抱着发现对方出轨证据的目的去浏览他们的社交账户。

 

A fifth said they felt uneasy about their relationship after discovering something on their partner’s Facebook account and a third said they kept social media log-in details secret from partners.

五分之一的人说，当在配偶的脸书上发现了蛛丝马迹后，他们会对自己的婚姻感到不安。三分之一的人透露，自己的社交媒体登录信息对另一半保密。

 

Vocabulary:

 

infidelity：（夫妻间的）不忠实；不贞行为

 

commission：委托人做

 

commonplace：老生常谈；司空见惯的事