http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/11/21/Anti-Facebook-preacher-admitted-affair/UPI-24431290389780/
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=facebook+drama
We’ve all heard of the term “Facebook drama”. There is even an entry for “Facebook Drama” on Urban Dictionary in which the drama “encompasses emotional, personal things, including fights, [and] personal opinions”. However, a little over a year ago, a British man, Brian Lewis, took this term to another level by killing his girlfriend, HaleyJones, of 13 years after she changed her Facebook relationship status from “married” to “single”. It started as a small issue between the couple as she was spending more and more time online. Things blew out of proportion after Jones ended the relationship and a week later, she changed her relationship status. Lewis confessed that he became enraged by Haley’s time spent on Facebook and suspicious of an affair. He now faces a lifetime jail sentence.
This article doesn’t apply to everyone’s annoyance with Facebook usage, but it does make a statement of how Facebook can create many problems within relationships. As we discussed in class, people are showcasing their lives to the Facebook community and have the potential of meeting many new people. This can be viewed positively or negatively. I personally know of couples who fight when something surfaces on Facebook. Tagged pictures or a wall post from an ex-girlfriend are usually the causes. There is even a minister in New Jersey who condemns Facebook as “a gateway to adultery” even though he, himself, ironically engaged in group sex in the past.
There is no excuse for Brian Lewis’s behavior, but social media is proving to trigger some insecurity and “Facebook drama” in personal relationships.
Sad to say, but I’m not surprised that someone can go that far and commit such a horrendous crime. People take things very personally at times and I believe Brian Lewis lost his mind when he murdered his x-wife. I think that what triggered his emotion was that his ego was hurt. It’s one thing to tell someone to their face that your relationship is over, but it’s another to post it for the public to see. He probably felt embarrassed, enraged, humiliated and most likely belittled by the status update. We constantly change our status updates without second guessing how it may effect someone. I constantly see news feed updates about who is single again (with a picture of a broken little heart) or who is in a relationship/engaged (with a picture of a solid heart). I assume its fine to update such a status if its harmless, but on the other hand you never know who you may be hurting when they see these updates. One creator of a Facebook page calls his page “Facebook Causes Problems In Relationships” where the creator goes into short detail of how Facebook actually causes problems when it comes to relationships. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2204731981
There was a recent study published in the Cyber Psychology & Behavior Journal, which analyzed the effects of Facebook use on romantic relationships of college students. Results showed that there was a significant association between time spent on Facebook and jealousy-related feelings and behaviors experienced. For those interested, please read on… http://mashable.com/2009/08/09/facebook-relationship-jealous/