Recently Time magazine posted an interesting story on “Five Facebook No-Nos for Divorcing Couples.” The points listed below are taken from the article; comments are my own.
- Don’t Show Off
While there may be nothing inherently wrong with sharing your latest trophies with the world, pictures of your brand-new cruise boat or luxury vacation may reveal inconsistencies between your perceived lifestyle and your sworn financial statement.
- Don’t Let It All Hang Out
Pictures revealing your poor judgment (no matter how justifiable your actions seem under the circumstances) won’t help you win custody battles.
- Don’t Get Tagged
Even if you’ve carefully deleted all inappropriate information about you, your friends may decide that it’s funny to post a picture of you passed out in the bathtub, or somewhere even worse. Search your own name periodically. Or better yet, behave yourself.
- Don’t Vent
“You think your kids never use a computer?” says the author. Venting, particularly when it involves personal attacks, casts a shadow on your character when it comes to parenting skills.
- Don’t Cut Everyone Off at Once
Your relationship with mutual friends and in-laws, believe or not, may survive the nasty break-up. “People need time to adjust,” says the author. Cutting off all ties with your ex is like painting yourself into a corner: you have to wait a long time before you get to step out.
As a family law lawyer, I can’t say I disagree with any of the points above. Facebook and other social networking sites have become so popular that they are generating new kinds of privacy concerns. Once your personal information is released into cyberspace, you retain little or no control of it.
My advice: think twice before posting something that you wouldn’t say or do on a crowded bus.
