In the age of the Internet, everything is faster. We can read about news the minute it happens. We can order a package and have it delivered the next day. We can even order a quick delivery of pizza or groceries.
And we can also contact people faster. Much faster. With Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites, it’s easier to reconnect with people from the past, and even meet strangers. One writer with the Huffington Post wonders if this has led to more instances of divorce. He concludes that it has.
He reasons that a couple of decades ago, an affair might evolve gradually over a period of weeks, months or years. Two co-workers, for example, might gradually warm up to each other after short chats at the water cooler, or over lunch. But now the available modes of communication have increased almost exponentially.
With cellphones, calls can be more private. And texting and Internet over the phone can make connecting with another person that much easier and faster. Some people call it “instant communication.”
The author of the article concludes that technology has not only sped up our daily life, but made for quicker encounters. This has likely led to more affairs, and hence divorces, he reasons.
What do you think? Has new technology been detrimental to marriage? Does the Internet contribute to affairs and divorces, and will there ever be a way to scale back?
Source: Huffington Post, “Texting, sexting and affairs,” Henry Gornbein, Jan. 5, 2012