Stalking your ex on Facebook is bad for your mental health

New research shows that obsessing over your ex on Facebook might seem like it helps ease the pain of breaking up, but it's potentially harmful for your mental health.

Facebook Surveillance of Former Romantic Partners: Associations with PostBreakup Recovery and Personal Growth by Dr. Tara C. Marshall, Ph.D., tells us that online post-breakup fixation on your ex is really not a good idea if you want to get over it, heal your heart, or get back into personal growth patterns.

And even though "all the kids are doing it" - it's not going to be helping out anyone's mental health anytime soon. 

The paper explains, "Not only do people use Facebook to monitor the activities of current romantic partners, but as many as one-third use Facebook to keep tabs on former romantic partners.While Facebook surveillance of ex-partners has been linked to negative outcomes such as online and offline relational intrusion, the potential for Facebook contact and surveillance to disrupt emotional recovery and growth following a breakup has received little research attention."

Read more via ZDNet here.