If you spend a lot of time on social media, abandoning it during your divorce may never have crossed your mind.
While social media might feel like a lifeline where you can turn to others for support, it could prove harmful during your divorce. Here is why:
Social media is not private
While that seems obvious, take a moment to consider its full implications. Everything you post, and everything someone posts that mentions or tags you, is accessible to lots of other people, and that might include your spouse and their legal team.
If your divorce is amicable, this might not be a problem, but most divorces are not that easy. Couples often have great difficulty agreeing on things such as property division and custody, and sometimes, it can feel like a battle.
Broadcasting what you are up to could help your spouse argue against you
Let’s imagine you are in court and cannot agree on who the kids will live with most of the time. Your spouse may look for anything to give them an edge. If they find photos online of you drunk on holiday, they may use them to tell the judge that you sometimes get so drunk that you cannot care for the children. Or, if the holiday photos show you in a five-star resort, to argue that you can afford to pay them more spousal support.
Tightening privacy settings may not be enough
Social media is a web of interconnected people, so just blocking your spouse may not be enough. They may still be able to see your posts via a friend of a friend.
There’s one person you should definitely share information with during your divorce and that’s your legal representative. Being honest with them allows them to understand your situation better and work toward a satisfactory divorce solution.