Can’t Get Over Your Ex? Blame the Internet

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“Breaking up is hard to do,” sang Neil Sedaka in his 1962 hit. And according to a new poll, the Internet had made moving on from a split that much trickier.

In a survey conducted December 22, 2010 through January 5, 2011, YourTango.com, a website dedicated to love and relationships, found that 71% of the 1,000+ respondents said they think about their ex too much. 57% of singles said thinking about their former love prevented them from finding new relationships, while 36% of hitched couples said connections to an old love interfered with their marriage.

(See five reasons to get (or stay) married this year.)

And the Internet is largely to blame for those lingering attachments. After all, you can’t exactly rip up a digital photo album or erase someone else’s online trail. Of the 59% of respondents who stay friends with their ex on Facebook, 48% (including 42% married people) said they look at their former flame’s profile too often. 86% of people said they looked at an ex’s photos too often, while 50% said they’ve called, texted, IMed, or emailed an old love when they shouldn’t have.

(The Science of Single: One Year’s Worth of Dating Advice)

To put an end to the ex mania, YourTango.com has designated February 13 as National Break Up With Your Ex Day, encouraging people to unfriend/unfollow/delete their former flames on various social media platforms. But when reconnecting is just a mouse click away, NewsFeed wonders how effective the effort will actually be.

(via YourTango.com)