We all know the many and varied uses of social media, and have come to accept the power that the various platforms have globally.
We have seen the detrimental affects of social media, following Charlotte Dawson’s tragic death that came as a result of being incessantly harassed via Twitter, and we have seen the positive affects, whereby celebrities from around the globe have banding together with images ‘hashtagged’ “Bring back our girls”, relating to the kidnapping of 230 Nigerian school girls earlier this year.
Though with its use becoming more prolific and intense throughout just about every avenue of our lives, it is no wonder social media is now being considered prior to weddings – and I am not just referring to the posting of wedding photos, videos or messages of congratulations.
Recently, lawyers in charge of constructing the prenuptial agreements of couples have been asked to include a “social media clause” in the document, originally intended to discern ownership of the couples respective assets should the marriage fail – as one in every three now does.
As couples do, they take silly photographs and videos of each other, capturing their partner in the most embarrassing, hilarious or downright disgusting moments – thinking that they will be the only two who will lay eyes on the pieces of media.
Social media clauses came to be, as recently-divorced individuals were more and more often finding themselves the butt of a social media joke – the subject posed compromisingly or appearing unattractively in a photo or video that was posted to social media, out of spite, following the termination of a relationship.
Imagine logging onto Facebook the day after declaring your marriage over, to find your former spouse had uploaded the most horrendously unflattering photo they could possibly find of you.
I know I would be rather angry if this were to happen to me, and because of this I can accept the validity of the “social media clause”.
I, however, feel the whole concept of the prenuptial in the first place is slightly out of line with the whole concept of marriage.
Two people are coming together, vowing to spend their lives in the presence of one another – but just in case it doesn’t work sign this piece of paper so you can’t take anything that is mine!
If a prenuptial agreement is felt necessary by one, or both parties involved in the marriage, I don’t believe a high enough level of trust exists between the two to see a marriage last.
At the moment, being unmarried, I can see how a bad photo or a harmful comment about myself being posted to social media in the wake of a divorce would be extremely embarrassing, not to mention aggravating.
Though in the event of a real married couple cutting its ties, I personally believe more important things would be at stake, children for example.
If a couple considering marriage is not adult or mature enough to be wed without their other half promising never to post about them on social media, then they should possibly reconsider entering into a relationship as permanent – for the most part – as marriage.
The same goes, if the parties to be married are so vain they could not contemplate marriage without the possibility of something embarrassing being aired publically, then a life in which they will share absolutely everything with another probably isn’t for them.
– Marlo Brown
Out Of My Mind 