Social Media Study Finds Link Between Media Use And Relationship Satisfaction

The Toll Social Media Takes On Marriage
businessman is working on a...
businessman is working on a...

Your social media habits could be hurting your marriage, according to a new study out of the University of Oxford's Internet Institute.

Researchers looked at 24,000 married people and how they used 10 different media channels, including Facebook, emails, texts and instant messages. They found that those who communicated with their partner over more channels did not experience greater levels of relationship satisfaction, and some even reported decreased levels of satisfaction. In fact, couples using more than five channels reported a 14 percent drop in marriage satisfaction, according to the Daily Mail.

"This work suggests that media, which now includes online social media, still operates as a signal of ties of strength in relationships," Hogan said in a press release. "However there may be a cut-off point after which the increasing complexity of maintaining so many separate communications threads starts to undermine relationship ties."

Click through the slideshow below to learn about 10 other surprising divorce research findings from the past year.

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