A new study shows heavy Twitter use could be a damaging factor in relationships.
Russell Clayton, a
doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism,
found that active Twitter users are far more likely to experience
Twitter–related conflict with their romantic partners, which can lead to
divorce, break-ups, emotional and physical cheating. He surveyed 581
Twitter users of varying ages.
Conflict can include anything from spending too much time on the
social network to using the site specifically to engage with someone
outside of the user's relationship.
Since Twitter is not a dating site, nor was it created to foster
romance, the site can be seen as an "innocent" platform in which to
communicate with someone publicly or privately. But fights regarding a
person's Twitter use, Clayton points out, doesn't mean one partner is
using Twitter to cheat, but rather, driven away from the relationship to
pursue other options in any venue.
Clayton asked participants questions
about their Twitter use such as how often they login in to Twitter,
tweet, scroll the Twitter newsfeed, send direct messages to others, and
reply to followers. Clayton also asked how much, if any, conflict arose
between participants’ current or former partners as a result of Twitter
use.
Clayton has done similar studies in the past. Recently, he focused on
the same question but put the spotlight on another popular network:
Facebook.
He found the outcomes of both studies were similar: those who spend lots of time on the social sites were more likely to stray.
One difference between heavy Facebook users and heavy Twitter users
and the demise of their relationships was that couples in new
relationships (3 years or less) experienced more romantic duress when
one or both partners heavily engaged with Facebook. On Twitter, Clayton
found the duration of the relationship mattered much less.
“I found it interesting that active Twitter users experienced
Twitter-related conflict and negative relationship outcomes regardless
of length of romantic relationship,” Clayton said. “Couples who reported
being in relatively new relationships experienced the same amount of
conflict as those in longer relationships.”
Clayton recommends couples of all ages limit their use of social networking sites to more healthy, reasonable levels.
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