Social media not to blame for divorce rate

The divorce rate in China has been increasing for the past 12 years with about 1 in every 3 marriages ending in divorce, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Lu Mingsheng, a law expert with the China Law Society, attributes the dramatic rise in the divorce rate partly to social media. "We have learned from some lawyers that more than half of the divorce cases they have handled in recent years were caused by extramarital affairs. Social media-equipped smartphones are the most likely tools that lead to extramarital affairs that have become the new killer of marriages." Comments:

It's true that the rising divorce rate and the rise of social media have coincided, but that doesn't mean social media are to blame for the increasing divorce rate. Although it seems people cannot live without social media, there is no relation between divorce and social media. The only thing that kills a marriage is loss of love. If a marriage is happy, it will not cause loneliness. Feeling lonely is a sign of an unhappy marriage. If anything, the popularity of social media is partly the result of unhappy marriages.

Beijing News, July 6