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The continuous growth of the internet has had a significant effect on divorce applications with Legal personnel specialising in family law having stated that the vast majority of petitions that they prepared in 2010 made some reference to social networking sites. Emma Patel, the head of family law at Hart Scales & Hodges Solicitors in Surrey, has been quoted as saying that the number of petitions citing Facebook in one way or another is “remarkable.” She further stated that couples have referred to “flirty messages” and “inappropriate chat” in their petitions before adding that aggrieved spouse’s tendencies to make “inflammatory posts’ following divorce proceedings having begun have led to her advising her clients to refrain from using such sites until their divorces have concluded. “One divorcing couple’s rows on Facebook got so bad one party was charged with malicious communication after the police got involved” she stated. Lawyers have also become savvy to the wealth of evidence that can be obtained from the internet and a study conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers revealed that Facebook provides the majority of this evidence with MySpace and Twitter close behind. Facebook evidence has been used to reveal that a woman that was claiming compensation owing to a disability was still competing as a professional bodybuilder post injury, whilst evidence gathered from other parts of the web was used to prove that a respondent in a divorce case had filmed her own acts of adultery and broadcast them over the web for profit. The online virtual world Second Life, were users interact with one another through avatars (a graphical representation of the user,) has caused further tension between couples with married users engaging in ‘virtual’ or ‘avatar affairs’ with other users. Unlike a conventional affair, those who engage in ‘avatar affairs’ will never meet their online lovers – thereby making it impossible for them to commit an actual act of adultery – but instead engage in a hypothetical relationship. Online games such as World of Warcraft have also been implicated in several divorce petitions of late. Prior to this, football management simulation game Championship Manager was held accountable for matrimonial disharmony, with reports stating that addiction to the game had been quoted in no less than 35 divorce petitions. Now, there’s nothing wrong with taking time to yourself but, for the sake of your marriage, put the mouse/keyboard/controller down occasionally and spend some time with your spouse. After all, don’t we all prefer reality to virtual reality?