Plenty of broken hearts may appear on Facebook during the next few weeks.

People are more likely to break up with their partner two weeks before the holiday season and between Valentine’s Day and Spring Break, according to a study published on CNN’s website Nov. 4.

David McCandless, a British journalist and graphic designer specializing in showcasing data through a visual medium, conducted the study. McCandless sifted through 10,000 Facebook status updates over the course of a year, looking for the phrases ‘breakup’ or ‘broken up.’

McCandless compiled his data into a graph he presented at a Technology, Entertainment, Design conference in Oxford, England, this past July. TED talks are a global set of conferences meant to discuss new ideas. The graph shows the times of year a person is most and least likely to break up with a significant other.

Laurence Thomas, a philosophy professor at Syracuse University, said he was not surprised by the study’s findings.

‘The article’s conclusions seem plausible enough, especially for college students,’ he said. ‘The age of commitment nowadays is surely not between 18 and 21. There is too much to be said for exploring and pursuing one’s own agenda.’

McCandless called the first time period between Valentine’s Day and mid-March, or right before Spring Break, ‘spring cleaning.’ It was one of several times during the year when couples seemed to break up more often.

For some SU students, the time is appropriate for breakups because they do not want to be in a relationship during vacation. Greg Banos, a freshman business major, said he broke up with his girlfriend right before Spring Break last year.

‘I was going to be headed off to college,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see a real future between us, and I didn’t want to be tied down in my last summer with my friends before college.’

The second time of year that causes people to change their relationship status is about two weeks before the holiday season.

Molly Logigian, an undeclared freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, had her own particular name for it.

‘It’s the turkey dump,’ Logigian said. ‘A lot of couples break up right after Thanksgiving.’

McCandless’ study shows April Fools’ Day as a very popular day to break up. It also shows Monday as the most common day of the week for relationships to end.

The study also shows the days when the least amount of people break up. Christmas Day had the lowest number of breakup Facebook posts. In fact, the safest days of the year for relationships are holidays. According to the study, there is a sharp decrease in the possibility of a breakup on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and New Year’s.

‘Oftentimes it’s the right person,’ said Avi Steinbach, a freshman advertising major, ‘just the wrong time.’

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Published on November 15, 2010 at 12:00 pm