An article on cnet claims that a trend has been discovered as to when relationships on Facebook end. David McCandless, whom I've never heard of either, is apparently someone who takes an interest in compiling useless data (I don't actually know exactly what he does, I tried to figure it out and, besides this Facebook thing, it all seemed very uninteresting... however, if you feel like looking go here). He presented this idea at the TED conference, also which I've never heard of but am now fascinated with, in England.
According to McCandless' findings, who found the data by scouring status updates on facebook, relationships are most likely to end right before Christmas and the other peak time was in March, which he attributed to college Spring Break period.

This is interesting because most people who are getting into, and getting out of facebook relationships, are young people either in, or recently out of college, or sometimes in high school. It really kind of shows how we think, there's a number of things that could explain the period right before Christmas. For instance, you're a female, a freshman at college, who has recently entered into a mid first semester relationship at college, likely at a fraternity Halloween party. Now, being a first semester freshman female at college, this also means that you're a slut, who most likely met your new boy while he held your legs during a keg stand in a damp, crowded, basement. One might also infer that while the two of you are also very much in love, since you've been dating forever, almost a month, that going to your separate homes for Thanksgiving break is going to be unbearable.

Well, it's finally here, the last week in November, it's time to head back home to eat turkey. Your parents pick you up in a different dorm than they remember dropping you off at in September, obviously because you and your boyfriend romantically spend every night together. You get in the car, your father, visibly ashamed, tries to convince himself that your new friend Maria lives in this dorm and she happens to be a bigger girl, who's also a huge Bears fan explaining the over-sized Urlacher jersey and the pair of heels you happen to be wearing. The two of you obviously had a sleepover and decided to trade some of your clothing for the break.

You arrive at home and begin to receive text messages from your high school friends talking about parties and various other gatherings that will be happening this week. You, being the social butterfly that you are, will definitely be in attendance. While partying in your hometown, you commence drinking and begin to go on to your girlfriends about how you don't remember the last time you really cut loose since you're tied down now. Some time passes and you continue to drink, your ex-boyfriend, your first true love, turns the corner in what seems like slow motion. You lay eyes on him and immediately approach, the two of you head to his red Mustang, the old stomping grounds. You begin to hook up and quickly get into a fight because that's what you do, you march back inside to take a shot, and proceed to hook up with his best friend. Now, deeply enveloped in the drama of your hometown, you begin to be concerned only with the goings on here and start to forget about the troubles of college. You start to forget about a lot of things as you head to local bars using your fake ID and start hooking up with older, more mature guys you remember being years ahead of you in high school.

The break ends and you head back to school seeing your boyfriend who you've missed dearly. You start crying, telling him everything is moving too fast you'll always remember what the two of you had but have to break up.

Conversely, your boyfriend, who is a Jr. has been here before. Clearly confused at the before mentioned events, didn't realize that the two of you were boyfriend and girlfriend. He, being a rational human being, and knowing this situation, thought it better not to mention this. Shrugging his shoulders he watches you walk down the dorm hallway crying, deeply relieved in knowing that, one, you weren't crying because you found out you were pregnant, and two, he wasn't going to have to worry about whether or not to buy you a Christmas present.

The Spring break season obviously has similar reasons for couples breaking up, Cancun is often the site for random acts of infidelity. In a country where drinking water isn't an option, it's apparent that much of your time in Mexico will be fueled by tequila. While this leads to many arbitrary drunken hookups your time south of the border will most likely be very well documented, and consequently, all over facebook. A girlfriend knowing that her boyfriend is down in Cancun for spring break will surely be hitting refresh on his profile waiting for a tag, or a random friend request, waiting for the chance to ask him "who are those whores you're with!?"

This guy McCandless might be onto something since the trend in breakups makes a lot of sense. So if you are a man who happens to be dating a complete whore, you can probably assume you won't have to buy an extra gift for the holidays this year. If you're a female who happens to be dating a man who lives life on the "thrifty" or "cheap" side, well you may as well not make plans to introduce him to the fam because he'd rather dump your ass than dip into the beer fund to buy you a present.

(inquisitr) (source)