Facebook is not killing your marriage

Last month I mocked an article that suggested Christian couples were sharing social networking passwords as a pro-active defense against Internet Induced Infidelity.

Apparently I mocked too soon. The Wall Street Journal has written pretty much the same story, except that extended it to suggest all of us need to avoid friending our exes due to the dangers of Internet Induced Infidelity. (By the way, Internet Induced Infidelity would be a great name for a band.)

Consider this suggestion. Strike an agreement with your current partner that you will each disclose any Facebook friends you have slept with. WTF? Did a divorce attorney write this article? Anyway, it's not the exes that she slept with that you should be worried about. It's that guy that was her best friend. He's been regretting not making his move in high school for 20 years. He might not waste his 2nd chance.

Of course, they suggest sharing passwords. Again, there is nothing particularly wrong with this if it's done out of convenience. Michelle knows my passwords. But doing it because you don't trust yourself or your partner is just a symptom of much bigger problems in your relationship. You should probably be talking to each other more and poking each other on Facebook less. Or maybe talking less online and poking more in real life, or something.

All these articles are totally overlooking the positive benefits of friending your exes. You may get complete and total validation of your choice to dump her the morning after prom if it turns out she is a 42 year old chain smoking casino dealer with 3 kids by 3 different guys, none of whom she married. And you might look a lot better to your wife tonight after she discovers that her high school sweetheart still hasn't cut off the mullet.