Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Social Networking & Adultery Can Kill Your Dog

Transparency is good for your relationship, experts say. If you are in touch with an old lover online, tell your current partner, advises Karen Gail Lewis, a marriage and family therapist in Cincinnati. You should explain why you want to touch base with your ex, she says, listen to your partner's concerns, and share any correspondence. "It should be the two together talking about the one over there," says Dr. Lewis... You can look, but don't make contact. Strike an agreement with your current partner that you will each disclose any Facebook friends you have slept with. Or, like Katie Robinson, limit your online "friends" to people of the same sex. "It is hard enough to have a relationship without the intrusion of people from your past." Some couples share their passwords. "If your bank accounts are common, why not your Twitter and Facebook accounts?"

I like social networking. I do it myself: LinkedIn, Twitter, & Facebook. But, I have always been cautious regarding who I let into my circle and how I correspond with them. It's just common sense. It is especially important to do this when you are married. "Mate-poaching" (women try to lure men who are already "taken," either for a short-term sexual liaison or a longer-term relationship) is a serious threat to a marriage.

Marriage relationship break ups affect pets, too. A good number of dogs end up in shelters after a divorce. Either the couple can't agree on who gets the dogs, so they give them away, or they go broke in the divorce and are forced to give the dogs away. And in today's economy, a drop off at a shelter might likely mean a death sentence for the dog.

So, think twice about what you are doing when social networking. Not only are you risking your marriage, you are possibly going to be responsible for the death of your dogs. Go get marriage counseling. Grow up. Be responsible, even when no one is looking.

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