The Death of the Soaps

I think I know why the soap operas are dying.

Years ago, my college roommate introduced me to the drama fest that was The Young and The Restless. The addiction carried on into my post-college, working years. I couldn't see it most days (although, in my first office, there was a tv in the break room and there were a group of us who timed our lunch breaks appropriately.) However, it never takes more than one or two episodes to catch up on 6 months of misses.

Finally, my life got full enough that I could give up on TYATR all together. Good thing it happened before "SoapNet" became a channel.

But, somewhere along the line, social networking came into focus. And, whoo boy. . . the drama! Through facebook, I've been able to watch people declare love inappropriately fast after the first date. I've even been witness to the facebook break up . . . yes, an actual break up conducted entirely through facebook posts. I've seen people air their relationship problems and I've seen people take their personal tiffs to the facebook public. I've figured out who was on the outs in their relationships through cryptic messages and I've guessed who had a new main squeeze by who was spending too much time "liking" everything a person posted.

Did you know that 25% of divorces now cite social networking as one of the causes?

Better than a soap opera, and without so many commercials. But, no lovers discovering that they are actually twins while at the alter . . . yet.