The times they are a-changin'. So goes the lyric to one Bob Dylan song. He didn't necessarily have marriage and divorce in mind when he recorded those words, but Virginia attorneys with experience in family law know they apply. Relationships have definitely taken on a high-tech nuance with the passing of time.

Back before cell phones were ubiquitous, we had land lines and long distance charges. The task of merely scheduling a date to get two people together could take days, even weeks. You might even have to write a letter to get the ball rolling. Communication took some work and some skill.

Today, the computer chip and our wireless world speed every interaction up to the speed of light. Or at least, that's the way it feels.

In the BC era (before computers), relationships got ironed out with face-to-face conversations. Today, troubled souls turn to the Internet to see what a search engine can dig up in the way of advice. There isn't a friend's ear to bend in such a scenario, only a stream of information that offers research findings.

Divorce does not seem exempt from the influence of technology. A recent case out of Connecticut highlights the point. The judge in this case ordered both the man and the woman to hand over their social networking passwords. The attorneys for both sides were given the go-ahead to use them to gather information about the attitudes of both adults that might contribute to the determination of how to award custody of their children.

One can argue whether the judge's order violates privacy rights of the parents. We leave that to others. Considering that there are human beings involved who will be affected by the eventual settlement of the divorce, we suspect there some experts who would recommend trying to sort things out through the face-to-face conversation method. The human touch can help.

Source: Forbes.com, "Judge orders divorcing couple to swap Facebook and dating site passwords," Kashmir Hill, Nov. 7, 2011