Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels
(Photo : Ron Lach from Pexels)

The Pros and Cons Of Social Media 

Over the last 30-plus years, technologies seem to be spinning out of control. Everyone in all industries must take and accept these new advancements in technologies or be left behind. 

Technologies in the 21st Century are too many to count. However, one technology is the advent of social media platforms. Everyone uses some social media site. People you want and those you do not want to know your status sometimes make it difficult for social media users. 

One huge technological advance is social media sites. Social media platforms have crept their way into your life in ways you never thought possible.  

Social media allow users to enjoy connecting with long-lost friends and relatives. Social media help people to share special moments. Social media can also function like eyes in the sky where people you do not want in your life know everything about you and your family. 

Even the private sector of your social media site can be infiltrated by those to whom you do not want to have access. The following are only a few examples of some of the most used social media platforms.

  • Facebook and Facebook Messenger

  • UTube

  • Twitter

  • WhatsApp

  • Instagram

  • WeChat

  • TikTok

  • SnapChat

The Legal System and Social Media

The judicial system has many different branches of service, one of which is child custody. Child custody hearings have recently entered the social media platform, where many individuals may post their personal views on why someone should or should not receive child custody. 

These posts are right there in the public eye for anyone and everyone to read and consider. When you open yourself up to statements on a public platform, you must be prepared for public comment and know that the people you do not want to see your posts have access to your current character, like the judicial system. 

Social media take up many minutes of every day for millions of people. If you are not reading messages from other individuals, you post your views on everything imaginable and use these sites to contact family and friends. These posts from everywhere can also include views of someone going through a child custody hearing. 

Social media have become a place where you can air differences and post things about other people that are hurtful and sometimes not the total truth. Readers heavily involved in social media platforms use these places to air their differences, disgust and hate for another person. 

More entities are using these platforms to achieve their goals. For example, law enforcement departments routinely use social media to help them catch criminals. These platforms are read by millions of people every second of the day. 

The information posted about a crime or criminal activity only takes seconds for millions to read and possibly respond to that law enforcement entity calling for public assistance. 

How Do Social Media Platforms Assist, Child Custody?

One way that social media have been a valuable asset is in child custody issues. Social media provide someone going through a divorce to keep their family and friends updated on the issue of their divorce. Few divorce proceedings go smoothly. A divorce can bring out the worse in people.

A social platform gives each spouse an avenue by which they can badmouth one another. A social media platform enables one or both parents to make derogatory and hateful statements about the other. It becomes impossible to take back what you post on any social media site. 

When children are involved in a divorce, social media allow each parent to post pictures and statements about why one parent should never be awarded the children over the other parent. 

One parent can be so angry with the other that they feel driven to post statements about their divorce that they should not post. These statements are often posted in anger and on the spur of the moment. Sometimes these posts are accurate, and sometimes posts can be a stretch of the imagination and can be untrue about the other parent. 

Not only can parents vent their most profound feelings through social media posts, but their children, if old enough, may also start posting statements about each parent. Which parent do they support over the other parent? Children can badmouth a parent as much as one parent can badmouth the other.

A divorce can also cause children to feel guilty and angry. This anger can be misplaced anger, and children can be some of the cruelest human beings when they have been hurt. Children may blame one parent over the other parent for this lifestyle change. Children often blame themselves for their parents divorcing. 

Some believe that if you want the hard-core truth about any subject, ask a child because they are brutally honest in their statements. However, a child can also harbor a lot of anger against one parent and risk speaking out on social media. 

Children usually do not have all the facts, and their anger could be misplaced anger. However, if the court system now monitors social media statements by adults, there is a good chance that they will monitor statements made by children caught in the middle of a divorce. A child can weigh a lot about who gets custody of them and who they must live with, mom or dad.

The judicial system routinely monitors social media platforms. Suppose parents go through a divorce post with hurtful and derogatory statements about the other parent. In that case, this information, if caught, can be presented to the court, which can hurt that parent's child custody efforts. 

How Can Social Media Determine Child Custody Hearings?

If you open up your feelings on social media about your spouse, you are divorcing and leave nothing unturned; you post your feelings and views for everyone in the public domain to read, including your spouse's attorney.

  • These posts are your identity.

  • You own everything you post on social media. 

  • You own any videos you post.

  • You own all the pictures you post.

Everything you post on social media belongs to you. Your life becomes an open book to family members, friends, and the general public. Everyone now knows your state of mind and where you are in life, including the Family Court system, which determines if your spouse or you is the healthiest option for the children's sake. Your social media posts can tell the court that you may not be an ideal caretaker for your children.

The judicial system can use what you sign your name on any social media site. These social media posts contain valuable information likely to be used in court in a child custody case. When you sign your name in a derogatory, hurtful, and damaging statement about your spouse or children, you are the owner. 

Statements of this sort clearly show that you intended to harm the other person. Few people will believe that what you post is not valid. 

During a child custody hearing, your attorney would not approve of social media posts that you design to hurt your spouse. Your spouse's attorney can gather this information from you and present it as evidence against you. 

Your statements clearly explain your innermost character and can work against you in custody hearings. After the judge reads your hurtful, hateful, and derogatory statements, the judge can award custody to your spouse. No matter how angry you may feel, it is never a good idea to put these feelings on paper and signed by you. 

Avoid Posting Pictures and Videos on Social Media Should You Forget You are Going Through a Custody Hearing

Social platforms enable friends and family a chance to celebrate special occasions with you. For example, when you celebrate a special occasion such as a wedding, a birth, graduation, a birthday, a unique vacation, or an anniversary, you take pictures and videos so friends and family who cannot be with you can enjoy your special moments.  

However, in this day and age, any posts on social media can work against you in unique circumstances, such as child custody hearings. Not only does the judicial system monitor your posted statements on social media, but they monitor pictures and videos that can prove that you are not living as you say you are living. Never post pictures on social media that can harm your custody case. If there are alcohol or drug use issues and your photos or videos are posted to show you at a party with alcohol, it can go against your child custody efforts. 

During a challenging divorce, where one spouse wants to take away all parental rights of the other spouse, they will look for anything that helps their case against you. Social media platforms may give that person the actual evidence against you they are looking for to damage your case. Pictures of questionable activities by either spouse posted to any social media post can do a lot of damage to a custody case. 

Pictures and videos posted to social media can clearly show the following that will damage your custody case. 

  • Rowdy activity

  • Drinking alcohol or drunken stupors

  • Questionable romantic relationships during a divorce

  • Risky activities

  • Drug use

  • Foul language

These things can show up on any social media platform and damage any chances of gaining custody of your children as they could show you as a possibly unfit parent. These actions show the court that if you had custody of the children, it could be harmful to them. You could lose your parental rights and visitation. 

Using Social Media While Protecting Your Custody Case

If you are going through a child custody case, the rule of thumb is to refrain from posting on social media accounts. While it seems like an excellent way to strike down your soon-to-be-ex, you risk harming your child custody chances. 

When you start posting highly rude, harmful, hateful, and negative comments on social media, you can lose your chances of child custody. Facebook and other social media outlets are not the places to air dirty laundry. 

It may be challenging to resist posting your anger and distaste for an ex. Still, for the healthy sake of your children, it is best to never air verbal or picture grievances on any social media platform or to your children before, during, or after divorce or child custody hearings concerning your spouse. 

Never trust posting on private settings, thinking that someone cannot gain access. People can still gain access to your profile. Take your anger and hate about your spouse to your seasoned, licensed, and experienced attorney. Your attorney has the compassion to feel your frustrations and help you vent your emotions elsewhere besides social media.

We are not saying that you cannot use social media to keep in contact with friends and family. If you are going through a difficult time, social media may be a positive help for you. However, set this rule in place and abide by this rule while posting.

Keep your postings clean and free from negativity having anything to do with your court case.

Never talk about or post anything about your children or spouse. And never post incriminating pictures or videos. If someone should ask you a question about your impending divorce or custody hearing, tell them that this is something that you cannot discuss until a later date. Even positive posts about your spouse can work against you. It is best if you post nothing. 

Suppose you post a comment against your spouse in a fit of anger. Now you want to delete the comment. It is best not to delete the post. If an attorney finds a deleted comment, you may have some explaining to do to the judge.  

This Family Law Practice in Florance, Mississippi, Wants To Help You

This licensed and experienced family attorney knows all about divorce proceedings and child custody hearings. This attorney has the compassion and knowledge to get clients and their children through the complicated divorce and child custody process. We can help you!

  • We know that each divorce and custody case is uniquely different.

  • We are experienced with child custody cases. 

  • No case is the same. 

  • We gained experience over the years of service to our community in Florence, Mississippi, and the surrounding areas. We help husbands and wives move forward so they can close this chapter of their lives. 

We support and understand what children go through during a divorce, no matter their age. We help the children and parents work through the possibilities of children expressing their guilt and that is the reason mom and dad parted ways. We will help your children understand that they are not the reason for this change. 

Lastly, we will help you understand the dangers of venting your emotions on any social media site. We help you understand why you need to avoid certain statements, pictures, and videos posted on social media and how this can cause irreparable harm to your child custody case. 

With its advanced technologies, this current world has become a way of life for most individuals. When you use these technologies like social media accounts in the wrong context, they can cause you harm when you are going through unique circumstances like divorce and child custody hearings.  

Your first call for a consultation with us is free of charge with no obligations. We stand ready to answer your call for help in family law, divorce, and child custody. 

Our compassionate attorney is eager to hear your story and get to work for you. We want the best possible outcome for you and your children. Give us a call today as we are the leaders in the community when it comes to negotiating and litigating family legal matters. 

When you call us for help, our family of professionals embraces your family, and we remain by your side to support, encourage, and guide you through your divorce and custody case. If you want us to, we will remain with you far into the future for as long as you want us.