Almost a third of snooping Brits log into their ex-partners’ social media accounts, a study has found – with Instagram being the most popular.
Jilted past flames also look at Netflix accounts to see what their exes have been watching.
Facebook, Twitter, Spotify and emails are among the other platforms commonly hacked by dumped exes.
Meanwhile, only 23% of those who had had their accounts spied on were aware of it.
And most of the snoopers – 81% – felt sad after they’d done so.
The findings were compiled by Reboot Digital PR agency which looked into the habits of 4,518 recently-made singletons.
The main reason given for logging into an ex’s account was to see if they had found someone new.
Other reasons included curiosity, to find out if they had been blocked and to seek revenge.
And disturbingly, 65% of those who did log in admitted they felt it was an ‘obsession’.
Another 45% said they felt it was making it difficult to move on but that they could not stop themselves doing so.
Ann Heathcote a psychotherapist who founded The Worsley Centre in Manchester, said: ‘Social media has made it easy to snoop on your ex and the temptation to look becomes too much for some.
‘There are two main reasons as to how this snooping can damage your mental health.
‘Firstly, seeing your ex’s name appear is enough to experience that knot feeling in your stomach.
‘Although these knot feelings are a physical experience, it’s the enteric nervous system. This system consists of millions of neurons that communicate with the brain and let us feel the emotions that our brain is dealing with.
‘The second reason this action is damaging to your mental health is that focusing on your ex doesn’t enable you to emotionally distance yourself or focus on your personal growth.
‘You must focus on healing yourself and practise self-care instead of focusing your energy on the past.’
Mail hk
