Thanks to social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, there are few secrets anymore. You can learn all about your aunt’s medical issues and your ex-boyfriend’s current political views online. For many in Louisville, sharing their life events and feelings (both good and bad) on social media can be cathartic and help them feel less alone.
However, what you put on your social media accounts can have negative consequences too. This is certainly true when you talk about your divorce online. In some cases, the photos, videos and words divorcing people have posted cost them money and child custody rights. That’s because the other spouse found the posts and used them as evidence against their ex.
The safest way to post on social media during divorce is not to. But if you cannot give up your accounts for that long, here are a few tips for ensuring that what you put online does not backfire on you.
- Don’t use social media to vent about your divorce or your ex. Even if you are sure your posts are set to private, they could still end up in your ex’s hands through someone in your private group.
- Also avoid the temptation to post pictures of your vacation or major purchase to show your ex how well you are doing without them. Such pics and photos could be twisted into “evidence” that you are hiding or wasting marital assets.
- Don’t post intimate photos or videos of yourself and your ex. This could get you charged with the crime of posting “revenge porn.”
- Focus on keeping your social media positive. Set your accounts to the highest privacy settings possible to limit who can see your posts to those you can (hopefully) trust.
It is important to have emotional support through divorce. But when you need to vent, try to do it offline by speaking with a therapist or friends.