Social media and modern gadgets may be helping you remain socially active, but being glued to the smartphone for long hours can also ruin your marriage, latest research shows.
A team of researchers from Oxford University in UK analysed the impact of social networking sites on marital satisfaction. They closely followed nearly 24,000 married couples in Europe and found that spending more time on social media only helped increase "disappointment and disdain" in couples, IANS reported.
"The more couples read about others' exciting lives on social media, the more likely they were to view their own with disappointment and disdain," the authors noted.
Another study conducted by the University of Missouri in the US found that smartphones helped access social media easily and remain active late into the night, which further affected intimacy between couples, The Daily Mail reported.
"At first, we were answering emails from the bedroom," Anne, a working woman told The Daily Mail. "Which meant our sex life suffered. Then, my husband started working from the study next door instead. When he started texting me goodnight, instead of walking to the bedroom, I knew I was no longer a priority."
Similarly, a study released early this year found 32 percent increased chances of separation among people who were addicted to the social media. In the study, researchers from the Boston University in US analysed divorce rates in 43 states and attributed a 20 percent increase in Facebook users to 2.18 percent increase in divorce rates.
Another study released last April has also linked social media to unhappy marriages.
"Using these media is great in moderation. But more is not necessarily better," Dr Bernie Hogan, from Oxford Internet Institute told Daily Mail, at that time. "We need to walk back from the idea that more communication by more media is a good thing. We have been drunk on new media over the past ten years. Now we realise that its absence is bad, but overuse is also bad. It's important to be accessible without being overbearing."
Additionally, several studies in the past have highlighted negative impact associated with excess use of internet and social media. A study published last September found that excess involvement in social media hindered memory.
