Following your Ex on Facebook Prevents Personal Growth

Recent scientific research by Tara C. Marshall, “Facebook Surveillance of Former Romantic Partners: Associations with Post-Breakup Recovery and Personal Growth,” indicates that following your ex on Facebook is bad for your health.  It can cause negative feelings, greater distress over the breakdown of the relationship, obstruct the ability to heal from the relationship and move on, and prevent personal growth.  Simply remaining Facebook friends is better than constant Facebook monitoring as it can decrease the longing you feel for the ex and the negative feelings.  Those with no Facebook connections with the ex experienced better outcomes, however.  The article also describes an earlier study by Ty Tashiro and Patricia Frazier, “I’ll Never be in a Relationship Like that Again: Personal Growth Following Romantic Relationship Breakups,” that investigated the link between romantic breakups and personal growth.  In that study, participants described several aspects of personal growth.   The article in Psychology Today is well worth a read.

Read the article here.