Editorial: Facebook not the venue for family and friend feuding

A recent UK- based study shows that Facebook can be attributed as a factor in as many as one-third of divorces.

A similar American study shows that Facebook was to blame in as many as half of major marriage conflicts in the past year.

This site, created to help us stay better connected with our peers, seems to be tearing the seams in our closer-knit relationships apart.

For years women have complained about their significant others spending too much time playing video games. Now it seems guys have something to throw back—hours and hours spent "Facebook stalking" and "photo creeping".

What's going wrong here?

It seems to us that a quick look at the newsfeed shows an obvious answer: bickering. Too many people are finding reasons to fight. And more often than not, it's unsolicited.

For example, well-meaning siblings or friends post callous comments on an otherwise positive post. Then the quick-to-anger or easily-offended original poster gets upset. What ensues is a 32 comment-long battle of "well you shouldn't have said that" and "say it to my face".

We feel sorry for the victims in the days before you could "unsubscribe" from a comment and the poor fool who simply "liked" the post had to endure ALL the notifications.

Another source of conflict: people using Facebook as a venue for debate. It's one thing to post saying that Justin Bieber is the greatest artist known to mankind, and then watching the resulting discussion.

But some issues lose their dignity when people choose to debate them on the social media site. Issues such as abortion or the death penalty or vegetarianism are too serious, and people are too passionate, to allow them to be trivialized.

These issues deserve a serious conversation, not the passiveness of typing on Facebook. Even worse is when the ensuing debate occurs on a third party's newsfeed or timeline who did not wish to see it in the first place.

We at the Pacer just ask that you choose your battles carefully. Don't use the site meant to nurture socialization as a means to create disharmony. And be cautious of the overly-sensitive way people can read your text.