88% Stalk Their Exes on Facebook
It seems almost to go without saying that a social network the size of Facebook attracts both the good and bad in society. With the ease with which they allow us to follow what others are doing it seems inevitable that some will use it for somewhat unhealthy means.
A new study however suggests that it's slightly more than some of us, at least when it comes to the unhealthy pursuit of keeping tabs on our exes.
Facebook has made our romantic lives a rather public affair, with the infamous relationship status changes alerting our network to our romantic availability. A study by Western University reveals just how the network assists lovers after they break up.
It found that 88% of people still follow former lovers on Facebook. The paper, called "It's Complicated: Romantic breakups and their aftermath on Facebook." found that nearly all of us continue to pine after exes on Facebook, watching on as they head off in pursuit of new adventures.
Participants in the study were all aged 18-35 and had all suffered heart break in the past year.
It found that not only did many stalk their exes, but a full 70% admitted to using a mutual friends profile, or even logging in as that mutual friend, to do the stalking, if presumably they were blocked from doing so from their own account.
A further 74% also turned their attention to their exes new partner, or indeed even people they suspected might be the new flame.
The post-break up malaise continues, with 31% admitting to posting profile pictures purely in order to make an ex jealous, presumably based upon the assumption that they were stalking them too.
Research earlier this year showed that over-zealous 'monitoring' of your partners Facebook page can be detrimental to your relationship, and the same certainly applies after the break up.
All of which kinda suggests that in the dating game, it really is better off if you don't befriend your partner on Facebook and revert to the old fashioned way of talking to each other if you want to find something out.
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