Websites that reunite and reignite old lovers are helping push up England's divorce rates, according to a counselling service.
Sites such as Friend's Reunited have made it easier for former lovers to get back together, hastening the break up of relationships, said Ms Christine Northam, a counsellor at Relate.
The warning comes after figures from the Office of National statistics revealed that divorce in England and Wales rose for the third successive year in 2003 to over 150,000.
"The use of the Internet makes having affairs easier than in the past," Ms Northam said. Other factors were pressure at work, the changing roles of women and a decrease in the stigma of divorce, she added.
The last five years has seen a proliferation of websites that act as a bulletin board for people looking to contact old school friends, travelling companions and work colleagues.
But a spokeswoman at Friends Reunited said it was wrong to suggest such sites are undermining marriages and families.
"We are no more to blame for divorce rates than the advent of the telephone," she said. "We are an intermediary and we . . . reunite, and what occurs afterwards is beyond our control."