Study: The Higher Your Facebook Usage, the Higher Your Chances of Divorce, So Maybe Put Down That Phone 

Well. After you're finished reading this, of course.

Shutterstock

Shutterstock

In the newest case of Things We Kinda Already Thought But Now Have the Numbers to Prove, researchers at Boston University have analyzed a whole bunch of numbers and are now officially declaring that there is a link between high usage of social media sites—especially Facebok—and the divorce rate. In fact, they’re calling it a “‘positive, significant predictor of divorce rate and spousal troubles’ in the United States.” So, there we have it.

First, they looked at data collected from studying married couples from 2008-2010—and then, they pored over numbers from a more recent University of Texas at Austin study that looked at 1,160 married couples between the ages of 18 and 39. And goodness:

” … non–social network users reported being 11.4 percent happier with their marriage than heavy social media users. And heavy social media users were 32 percent more likely to think about leaving their spouse, compared with 16 percent for a nonuser.”

The leader of the study hopes that by making couples more aware of these statistics, it’ll help them understand the implications of their activities and make more informed choices—by which we assume he means get the hell off their phones/tablets/laptops and talk to each other/make out/live their lives.

For all of the intricacies (read: math) of this study, go here. And then seriously, sign off of your gadget.

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