As a pastor, I have counseled with a number of couples in the last year with troubled marriages. It is stunning how many of those marriage difficulties have something to do with Facebook or some other social networking site.
Sometimes the trouble has come because friendships gradually crossed the line of appropriate communications. Other times there was just suspicion and distrust.
Thankfully, Donna and I have not faced these difficulties, but every time I sit down with another couple in counseling, I am reminded that the potential is there.
So Donna and I decided to combine our accounts. I simply changed the account name and email on my account by going to the 'account settings' page. And we are in process of getting all her friends to be on my list (or our list).
Once this is done. We will just make her old account inactive.
We've also share our email passwords with each other. We have no secrets in our marriage and I don't want anything to creep in and cause distrust.
I know this won't be something everyone will want to do. That's fine. In fact, just because you take steps to have openness and integrity in your marriage in this area doesn't mean you can't have problems in other areas. But if you think combining your accounts would provide more trust, less possibility of friendships going in wrong directions, or even just a good witness and encouragement to others... then give it a try.
Noel
