Addiction to social media abets rising divorce rate in Kerala

Kerala that boasts of having the highest literacy rate in India has also earned notoriety as the divorce capital of India. Divorce cases are on the rise in the state by the year.

While there are many traditional reasons like alcohol addiction, infidelity, domestic violence, financial problems, Unconsummated marriage etc for the rising divorce rate, advent of social media has given a fresh fillip to incidence of divorce.

The young generation is increasingly getting addicted to social media. They spend a lot of time in an imagined world. Young professionals make virtual friends and it’s not quite uncommon that such virtual relations lead to illicit relationships and pre-marital affairs. They find it easy to break up their relationship.

According to a study, couples working in the IT industry account for 30 % of divorces that happen in Kerala. Most couples who work in the IT industry break up within two to three years of marriage. According to cyber experts, IT couples in uneasy relations use hacking techniques to collect electronic evidence against each other. They hack into their spouse’s email account for proof of extramarital affair. There are also cases of couples in troubled marriages fabricating electronic evidence to facilitate early separation.

Most divorces occur because of the couple’s inability to maintain work-life balance, compounded by odd working hours, high work pressure, irregular food habits, lack of physical exercise, varying sleep pattern etc. Lack of communication between couples create misunderstanding and mistrust.

Youngsters get swayed by the high incomes at the early stages of their career, which make them spendthrifts. Many of them take to drinks, drugs, late night parties and watching porn on the internet. They get influenced by TV serials which glorify pre- and extra-marital sex.

Next to IT, the film industry accounts for the largest number of divorces. The celebrity divorces that hit the headlines include that of K B Ganesh Kumar-Yamini Thankachi, Mamta Mohandas-Pregith Padmanabhan, Urvashi-Manoj K Jayan, Kalpana-Anil, Kavya Madhavan-Nishal Chandra, Jyothirmayi-Nishanth, Mukesh-Saritha and Sai Kumar-Prasanna Kumari.

The state’s family courts are flooded with divorce petitions. Most divorce cases are filed in Thiruvananthapuram, followed by Thrissur, Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, which came into force in 2006, has given women a legitimate ground for divorce they did not have before. Since this Act is liable to be misused against the husbands, court offers interim relief now only when it is convinced that the domestic violence plea is genuine.
According to lawyers specialised in family cases, both men and women are equally responsible for filing divorce cases. Most couples are not mature enough to handle the ups and downs of marriage and they are not keen to make any adjustments. They are the victims of the collapse of joint family systems where family members came to the support of the couples.

Many counselling centres have come up in the state, but they are far from effective in reuniting broken hearts.

Also read

Opinion: Does India need a law to protect men against the ‘misuse’ of the Domestic Violence Act?

22 things women in India are tired of hearing!